Diagnostic testing technologies company,
Luminex Corporation
(
LMNX
) recently received a Technology Award from the Austin Chamber of
Commerce. The company has been recognized for its superiority in
innovation and technology in the large business category.
The Greater Austin Business Award organized by the Austin Chamber
of Commerce honors businesses located in the Greater Austin region
with excellent achievements in various categories such as Health
and Wellness, Customer Service, Community Relations, Environment,
Innovative Practices, Non-Profit, Technology, and Most Uniquely
Austin. A total of 386 companies were nominated for the Business
Awards this year.
The Technology award is specifically given to the company which
has undertaken product innovation initiatives to provide a unique
and stimulating solution for an industry-specific problem. Luminex,
a renowned leader in the local biotechnology community, was chosen
as the winner out of the 5 large companies (selected from 100
finalists) nominated for this category.
Austin-based Luminex develops, manufactures and markets proprietary
biological testing technologies with applications throughout the
life sciences industry. Its xMAP technology is sold worldwide and
is used by leading research laboratories as well as major
pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies.
Luminex has a broad product portfolio. The company's latest
offering, the xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP) molecular
test, is receiving excellent reviews for setting new standards in
gastrointestinal diagnostic patient care. The device allows fast
and simultaneous detection of 95% of bacterial, viral and
gastroenteritis pathogens in a single test.
The xTAG GPP has already received CE Mark approval and is
successfully gaining traction in Europe. However, it is not yet
available in the U.S.
Every year about 2 billion people suffer from gastrointestinal
infections, out of which 1.8 million cases are fatal. The xTAG GPP
yielded successful results in managing life-threatening epidemics
such as the cholera pandemic in Port-au-Prince Haiti and the
malaria outbreak in Papua New Guinea. The device was also used for
detecting E. coli which plagued Germany last year. Most recently,
it was used by University Hospital of Wales during the 2012
Olympics Games.
In addition to a solid product portfolio, Luminex possesses a
strong pipeline of novel assays, which are expected to support
growth going ahead. The company's strong international presence has
helped it to further expand its product portfolio. Its customer
base is also quite encouraging.
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 #4 Rank (short-term Sell rating).
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