been in decline for a number of years, he says. The ASF recognizes the problem but might need as much as five to ten years to reverse the trend. David Bradley
BUSINESS
PE acquires PerSeptive Biosystems Perkin-Elmer announced in August that it will acquire Massachusetts-based PerSeptive Biosystems. The merger was expected to involve the exchange of approximately $360 million in PE stock for PerSeptive securities. PerSeptive manufactures instrumentation, such as MALDI-TOF, as well as supplies for the life sciences market. The company has been growing quickly. In fiscal 1991, the company recorded sales of close to $1 million, which ballooned to $75 million by fiscal 1996. The company's workforce has grown to 550 worldwide. According to Tony White, Perkin-Elmer's president and chief executive officer, the merger is "the culmination of an intensive strategic review that led us to identify PerSeptive as an ideal partner." Noubar Afeyan head of PerSeptive, said that the combination would provide his company with the "capital resources to secure our mission of being the leader in protein characterization in drug discovery"
ASTM sets up Andi subcommittee The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approved in July the formation of a new subcommittee (E49.08) to develop analytical data interchange (Andi) protocols that could lead to the standardization of software in analytical instruments. The subcommittee is headed by Bob Emerson of Hewlett Packard. Task groups on chromatography, headed by Greg Murphy of Waters, and MS, headed by Mark Canales of Finnigan, were also established. Initially, the subcommittee will convert Andi protocols developed by the Analytical Instrument Association into ASTM standards, but the group anticipates developing standards in other The subcommittee will also ft Vf r e p p
voluntary annual round robin testing of the protocols and future modifications of the standards
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Analytical Chemistry News & Features, October 1, 1997 589 A
