Common Sense for the Biochemist

Biolex announced today that they were acquiring a small French startup called Lemnagene. Both companies work with Lemna, a small aquatic plant. Biolex has some pretty good capital backing from entities such as the Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (J&Js venture capital arm). Biolex is currently involved in an alliance with Centocor to produce a number of proteins using their LEX system. This is not the first acquisition made by Biolex, as they swallowed Epicyte, another PMP company, in May of 2004. Consolidation is definitely a good thing for this young industry as some startups begin to acquire a critical mass of talent and technology to be successful. Since all of Biolex's manufacturing scheme will be in a controlled environment, they will not have to deal with hurdles from the USDA to get permits to grow their plants outdoors as some other related companies are doing now. This acquisition is definintely a "heads-up" call to the industry, Biolex is here to play ball.