OREANDA-NEWS. August 3, 2012. GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a business unit of GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) and NetBio, a leading provider of technologies for the emerging field of Rapid DNA Analysis, announced today an alliance to commercialize new, fast, cost effective and easy-to-use DNA sample collection and analysis products for the forensic market. The alliance will combine the global distribution reach and the world-class sample collection capabilities of GE Healthcare Life Sciences with NetBio’s innovative DNA analysis technologies to provide advanced products for DNA fingerprinting, helping to make the process easier and quicker than current methods. DNA fingerprinting is widely used by law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories to identify potential suspects and to support criminal investigations. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Commenting on the alliance, Eric Roman, General Manager, Global Commercial Operations, GE Healthcare Life Sciences said, “We’re delighted to announce this alliance with NetBio. We’re excited at the potential of combining the scientific expertise and capabilities of both companies with GE’s global resources in order to commercialize innovative products for use in the forensic setting.”

Dr. James Schumm, Vice President of Molecular Biology, NetBio added: “NetBio’s technology is based on combining a large number of complex DNA processing steps into a fully-automated, fully-integrated system for Rapid DNA Analysis. DNA analysis has revolutionized the field of forensics over the past two decades, and partnering with GE Healthcare has the potential to accelerate the pace of this revolution by commercializing products that will provide law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories with faster results.”