MEDICAL

In an attempt to reap profits from Japan’s fast-growing biotechnology market, Fullerton-based Beckman Instruments has entered an agreement to give Toshiba Medical Systems Ltd. exclusive rights to sell Beckman’s primary line of blood-analyzing instruments in Japan.

Toshiba Medical Systems, one of Japan’s largest suppliers of clinical chemistry instruments, has received rights to distribute in Japan Beckman’s Synchron Series of blood analyzers, which are manufactured by Beckman’s Diagnostic Systems Group in Brea. Beckman introduced the first instrument in the series in 1986, and two more instruments will make their debut later this year.

Beckman officials said they chose to distribute their product through Tokyo-based Toshiba, rather than on their own, because of the broad potential market for the Synchron Series--which includes Japan’s 9,699 hospitals. Already, they said, Toshiba has in place a sales force of about 650 people, while Beckman’s sales presence in Japan is much smaller.