Luminex Corporation
(
LMNX
), a developer of biological testing technologies, recently
announced that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency ("DTRA") has
awarded the company with $11.6 million to develop a portable
diagnostic device enabled with quick detection of bio-threat
agents. The contract has a term period of more than three and a
half years.
The contract with Luminex supports The Chemical and Biological
Defense Initiative Fund ("CMB-DIAGB2") of the U.S. Department of
Defense's DTRA. The DTRA was setup in 1998 to cater to the
Department of Defense's core technical, intellectual and
operational support expertise to identify and negate threats from
weapons of mass destruction and explosives.
The deal with DTRA is in line with Luminex's business strategy
to penetrate the applied markets such as bio-defense and bio-threat
testing. Management at Luminex is enthused about its alliance with
DTRA to provide cutting-edge solutions to neutralize biothreat
agents and enhance civilian safety with its advanced
technologies.
This field deployable hand-held tool will identify both protein
and nucleic acid targets to detect Systemic Inflammatory Response
Syndrome ("SIRS"), a disease caused by blood infection from
bio-warfare, combats and more. Bio-warfare agents can cause a
variety of diseases which can affect multiple organs and can lead
to large scale fatal illnesses to military and civilians as well.
However, the symptoms of bloodstream infections are common and
hence, a diagnostic test needs to be developed to detect
bio-warfare pathogens.
Luminex already possesses an extensive product portfolio and a
strong pipeline of novel assays, which are expected to support
growth going forward. Earlier in April 2012, the company had
announced its decision to expand its Biodefense Group by investing
in scientific research to further build on its product line.The
DTRA's award will further boost Luminex's bio-threat detection
technology program.
However, Luminex operates in the highly competitive life
sciences industry. The company competes with
Affymetrix
(
AFFX
) and
Sequenom
(
SQNM
), among others. Moreover, sluggish growth in its core markets is a
challenge faced by Luminex. We are currently Neutral on the stock,
which carries a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating).
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