Biacore sees 1st-qtr sales jump 46%

Sweden's Biacore says that business continues to grow rapidly, withsales in the first quarter of 2001 rising 46% to 132.5 million Swedish kroner ($12.9 million). Earnings per share rose 43% to 1.91 kroner after a further 5.6 million kroner investment to speed up the commercialization of the company's Surface Plasmon Resonance array chip technology, in which Biacore intends to invest some 30 million kroner in the current year.

The company notes that its collaboration with Millenium Pharmaceuticals on the SPR array chips continues to make good progress, and Biacore expects the first launch of new systems based on this technology to take place in 2004. Sales for the full year are forecast to increase more than 20% on 2000, with the usual significant variations between quarters, says Biacore.