IN DEPTH: TECHNOLOGY STATUS REPORT

by Heather Cole

Linco Research Inc.'s core business and a recently developed product line have boosted results over the last year.

The company develops kits that measure amounts of protein, hormones or other substances in the blood for diabetes and obesity researchers at organizations such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Washington University. A nonradioactive, enzyme-linked version of those kits has been a big seller, said Rick Ryan, president. Another line, a "multiplex," allows for several of the tests to be conducted at once. Business for that line has doubled, Ryan said.

Linco Research, which is owned by Chairman and Chief Executive Ron Gingerich, doesn't release revenue. Ryan said the company hired 12 people over the last year and is looking to fill three more positions.

A Linco Research spinoff, Linco Diagnostic Services Inc., also is owned by Gingerich, who has been devoting much of his time to it, Ryan said.

Linco Diagnostic also has grown, moving Aug. 9 to a 52,000-square-foot laboratory building on the same campus that houses Linco Research -- Missouri Research Park in St. Charles, according to Linco's Web site. Linco Diagnostic, which offers drug bioanalysis, immunogenicity testing and data management, recently added clinical trials to its services and is hiring medical technologists. The new facility includes features such as specialized laboratories, restricted-access sample storage facilities and security systems, independent air-handling zones, backup generators for sample storage and sample/data management systems, and a controlled and alarmed archive facility.

Linco Research was founded in 1978. Ronald Bowsher, vice president, is chairman-elect of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Biotech Section.