Fluidigm announced that its instrument and integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) sales reached record levels in 2008. Volumes of both BioMark™ instruments and Fluidigm chips more than doubled when compared to 2007.
“In the first half of 2008 we basically matched our prior year’s level of product sales. In the second half our sales accelerated to new levels,” said Gajus Worthington, Fluidigm president and chief executive officer. “While the worldwide economy declined in the third and fourth quarters of last year, demand for Fluidigm products dramatically increased. Interest in our products soared during the final six months of the year and our sales tracked that trajectory.”
The Pharma sector of the life science industry proved to be a strong growth segment for Fluidigm during 2008. More than a half-dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Medimmune, Novartis and others adopted or expanded their use of Fluidigm IFC technology last year.
The use of IFCs in the Ag-Bio (Agriculture – Biology) sector also exploded as Alaska Department of Fish and Game and ENZA shifted high-throughput programs to high gear. Bayer CropScience business operations unit BioScience and its global vegetable seed specialist Nunhems, as well as the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Council brought Fluidigm technology into their organizations.
Top research centers worldwide, such as Boston University; Cancer Research UK Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, The University of Cambridge; The Children's Hospital, Boston - a Harvard Medical School Affiliate; Cukurova University – Turkey; The Institute of Biotechnology of Prague; Keio University; LGC; Nano Gen Teknolojileri, National Measurement Institute in Australia and others joined the growing ranks of IFC users tackling some of the most challenging health, medical and life science issues of the day.