A new report on ASX-listed life sciences companies by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that the sector has posted its worst quarterly performance in three years. [ + ]

The dark clouds over venerable Adelaide biopharma BresaGen (ASX:BGN) have parted, revealing a little blue sky. But the resurrected company's business plan is focused on terra firma -- it is going back to its roots as a service company. [ + ]

Heraeus Noblelight has acquired the Spectral Technologies division of US company IST Corporation. IST Spectral Technologies is a manufacturer of light sources for analytical instrumentation.

Sigma-Aldrich has a new identity for its fine chemicals business, SAFC. SAFC will have over 650 of Sigma-Aldrich's 6000 employees dedicated to its success and will embrace the company's recent acquisitions, Ultrafine and Tetrionics.

Melbourne drug discovery biotech Cryptome Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CRP) has turned on its income tap after signing a collaboration agreement with Germany's Xantos Biomedicine to validate Xantos' lead anti-cancer molecule. [ + ]

With many biotechnology companies struggling to find investor support, the idea of banding together against the harsh elements -- merging or acquiring a like company -- is gaining currency. But there are many snares for the unwary, warns mergers and acquisitions specialist Nathan Drona. [ + ]

Sydney-based biopharma Apollo Life Sciences lodged its prospectus with the ASX yesterday to raise AUD$9.5 million from its IPO in June. [ + ]

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved a clinical trial of a new immunotherapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis C infection, developed by VacTX, a joint venture between EqiTX (ASX:EQX) and the CRC for Vaccine Technology [ + ]

The harvest of Australia's 2004/05 cotton crop, the first to involve full-scale production of new-generation, pest-resistant Bollgard 2 varieties, is nearing completion. [ + ]

Pfizer Australia has received a "massive" response to its first internal global call for submissions after it successfully won an AUD$10 million pharmaceutical partnerships program (P3) grant earlier this year. [ + ]

Breast cancer researchers and health-service agencies in NSW have formed a consortium to establish a national tissue bank, containing annotated tissues from breast cancer patients, as resource for Australian researchers. [ + ]

Sydney biomedical company Sirtex Medical (ASX:SRX) has promoted Gilman Wong from chief operating officer to chief executive officer. [ + ]

Psiron (ASX:PSX) has presented a research paper at the International Meeting on Molecular Biology of Picornaviruses showing anticancer activity of a new strain of its lead product (CVA21) against a wider range of colorectal cancer cells. [ + ]

The US Food and Drug Administration and Applied Biosystems researchers have recently collaborated on a comparative study of the genetic effects of the three commercialised glitazone drugs, using the company's microarray platform technology. [ + ]

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has acquired unlisted Melbourne discovery company Iliad Chemicals for 40.9 million Bionomics shares - approximately AUD$6.1 million at current market prices. [ + ]