Beckman Coulter Inc., the Fullerton-based maker of medical testing gear, gave a little and got a little in settling a patent spat.
Beckman Coulter and Applera Corp. of Norwalk, Conn., said late last month they resolved disputes over research instruments and chemicals used by researchers to map the body’s genetic makeup.
Applera’s Applied Biosystems Group is set to pay $35 million to Beckman as part of the settlement.
Beckman is set to pay $20 million during the next two years or so to Applera’s Rockville, Md.-based Celera Genomics Group for rights to some of the company’s technology.
Both companies also struck licensing deals for each other’s products.
Beckman is licensing its patents for gels for DNA sequencers and capillary electrophoresis devices used to separate and analyze proteins.
The company also is licensing a patent for a heated thermal cycler lid.
Applera is granting Beckman rights to patents for nucleic acid sequencing and real-time PCR thermalcyclic technology, both used by DNA researchers.
Beckman’s suit, filed in federal court in Santa Ana, dated back to 2002.
The company charged Applera with infringing upon its patent for a gel used to measure and map out human molecules.
“We believe the gel used by Applera was a gel invented by Beckman,” said Andrew Guilford, Beckman’s lawyer with the Costa Mesa office of Los Angeles-based Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, in a story last year.
Applera’s Celera Genomics was a key player in mapping the human genome under its former president, J. Craig Venter.
Celera competed with the publicly funded Human Genome Project to sequence the human genome a few years back.
At issue was a pair of patents covering a gel that Guilford said was used in the “fairly complex technological procedure” of trying to determine DNA’s structure at the molecular level.
The gel is contained within a capillary that molecules are run through, he said, and allows a scientist to “sieve” the molecule for mapping purposes.
Clean Rooms, Culture Clash
Healthcare companies buying others or being bought themselves need to make sure culture issues don’t scuttle integration, said Diane Davies, a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s life sciences and healthcare practice in Los Angeles.
“I do think culture is the No. 1 reason for merger failure, and I think most research suggests that,” Davies said. “To try to understand that, upfront planning is critical.”
Some companies assemble a “clean room” of people from both sides of a deal to share information about each company, including its culture.
“There are risks involved in that because if the merger doesn’t go through, these people can lose their jobs,they can’t go back in because they’ve been exposed to sensitive information, competitive information,” Davies said.
Companies typically staff clean rooms with people who are nearing retirement or with outsiders, including consultants.
When the group gets together, members could assess their different cultures in a bid to understand what the challenges are.
“If one culture is very command and control, and if the other is very consensus-building, obviously you know that you’re going to have some issues there,” Davies said.
Doing assessments, she said, can lead to ways to communicate roles, responsibilities, philosophies and operating guidelines for the combined company.
The biggest local healthcare combination,and biggest of any kind for OC,took place late last year, when UnitedHealth Group Inc. of Minnetonka, Minn., spent $9.2 billion to buy Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
Another sizable healthcare deal is in the works.
Newport Beach-based Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., a maker of dental products, is being bought for $2 billion by Danaher Corp. of Washington, D.C.
Danaher makes Crasftman tools for Sears, as well as some dental instruments, bar code readers and industrial products.
Ad PathLabs Update
Thanks to reader Rick Ferguson for setting us straight on an item in my April 24 column.
Newport Beach-based Ad PathLabs Inc., which was mentioned in the column, doesn’t exist as a stand-alone company anymore.
It was sold in November. Excuse me for not noticing, but the deal was under the radar.
Pathology Inc. of Torrance reportedly paid $1.2 million for Ad PathLabs, in what Ferguson called a “fire sale.”
Ad PathLabs was an investment of Pacific Venture Group LP, a venture capital firm with an office in Irvine.
The company provided technical anatomic pathology services to local hospitals and other clients, while allowing referring physicians to perform professional services on cases they referred to Ad PathLabs.
Bits and Pieces:
Ronald Greeno, chief medical officer of Cogent Healthcare Inc., Irvine, made Modern Physician magazine’s 50 most powerful physicians in healthcare list. Greeno cofounded Cogent, which provides doctors for hospitals, in 1997 Institute for Healthcare Advancement, La Habra, recently presented “Beyond the Written Word: Alternative Solutions to Health Literacy,” a conference designed to help healthcare and literacy professionals improve communications with patients.
