Hycor Partner to Help Make Test Instrument

Hycor Biomedical Inc. said it lined up a Dutch partner to speed its expansion into the marketplace for medical lab tests.

The Irvine-based producer of diagnostic tests said Thursday that Netherlands-based Vital Scientific N.V., Spankeren/Dieren, has agreed to make a testing instrument that Hycor can market for use with its own tests for allergies and autoimmune diseases. Vital Scientific is a unit of Newton, Mass.-based Novitron International Inc.

Reg Jones, Hycor’s chief financial officer, said the agreement should enable the company to start selling its products to a wider range of medical laboratories. While it now sells high-volume instruments to large laboratories, Vital is expected to develop a smaller, cheaper machine that can appeal to smaller laboratories.

The new instrument should be available for sale early next year, he added.