Nanogen and Aventis set up German JV

Nanogen of the USA and Aventis Research & Technologies, based inFrankfurt, Germany, have announced the formation of a joint venture, to be called Nanogen Recognomics. The JV will combine Nanogen's NanoChip technology and Aventis R&T's intellectual property and expertise in synthetic oligonucleotide chemistry and advanced molecular biology to develop new products and applications for the NanoChip system.

The new entity will be 60%-owned by the San Diego, California-based firm, while Aventis R&T will hold the remaining 40% stake. No financial details were disclosed, though the firms noted that Aventis R&T has contributed to the funding of the new company and brought 18 patents to the JV.