Prepared for the century of biology

 

The last century saw massive changes in the human condition, especially in our understanding and

harnessing of the physical world. In 1901, the telegraph was still the dominant form of long distance

communication. That same year, Wilhelm Röntgen was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of X-rays.

Today, the telegraph has been superseded by handheld mobile communications that give us instant access

to anyone, anywhere. Beyond the X-ray, we now have a multitude of imaging technologies at our

fingertips to provide insight and diagnosis. All this happened in just 100 years.

 

In 1928, Fleming discovered the antibiotic effect, one of the most powerful tools for saving lives from infectious

diseases. In 1953, Watson, Crick and Franklin established the structure and function of DNA, which propelled our

understanding of evolution, genetics and hereditary diseases. These were tipping points in the history of human medicine.

We are now firmly rooted in a century of biological discovery and development. The potential to apply our

knowledge to improve lives has never been stronger.

 

It is estimated that, every six months, the world’s laboratories create more biological data than has ever been

created in human history. The ensuing discoveries will be astounding and their applications will change human life

forever. Some of the most successful companies and institutions of this century will be the winners of the race of

biological discovery and development.

 

Tecan prepares its customers and partners to win this race. Find out how we are advancing Tecan’s capabilities

to empower our customers to succeed.

Preparing for precision medicine

 

Millions of diagnostic tests are performed every day around the world. Today, doctors can already prescribe

treatment and medication tailored for some diseases. Soon, when deciding which treatment is best for their

patients, doctors will likely recommend a whole panel of diagnostic tests.

 

Performing these complex tests accurately is central to making the right diagnosis. Tecan automation plays a

crucial role by reducing costs and eliminating human error.

 

Tecan has taken three major steps in preparing for its role in the rapidly expanding world of precision medicine:

 

In the earliest phase of research and diagnostic development, Tecan empowers researchers to gain insight into

fundamental biological mechanisms to discover new targeted drugs and develop strategies for more precise diagnostics.

Tecan provides advanced automated solutions with an extensive toolbox of hardware and software, consumables and

in certain cases, the reagents to perform the tests.

 

Tecan has created automated solutions for routine diagnostics as well as for novel analyses like Next Generation

Sequencing, mass spectrometry, the analysis of liquid biopsies and circulating tumor cells. This empowers

diagnostic labs around the world to develop and perform their own testing panels.

 

Through its Partnering Business, Tecan leverages its development and regulatory expertise to enable global diagnostic

companies and emerging players to launch new in vitro diagnostic platforms that serve clinicians and patients around the world.

Prepared for today and the future

 

Inevitably, today’s cutting edge technologies will be superseded by cheaper, faster and more powerful alternatives.

It’s called progress. Keeping an eye on developments is essential. Our customers expect us to stay ahead of the curve,

and provide smart solutions based on new approaches.

 

Breakthrough technologies like CRISPR/Cas9 and Next Generation Sequencing place a big focus on throughput and

ease of use. By integrating these technologies into automated solutions, Tecan lowers the barrier of adoption and

makes larger scales of operation a practical reality. One of Tecan’s strengths is that it is technology-agnostic.

With the freedom to consider any technology to provide a solution, Tecan partners with the best institutions and

companies to make it happen.

 

In certain areas Tecan offers fully integrated solutions, including reagents and functional consumables. An integrated

solution with an optimized automation platform improves workflow in the lab, and fulfills the drive towards greater

convenience and better data quality. Further to Tecan’s acquisition of IBL International in 2014, which gives in-house

expertise for developing immunoassays for specialty diagnostics, Tecan acquired US-based SPEware in 2016. This

acquisition offers new possibilities to automate the complex sample preparation process for mass spectrometric (MS)

analysis of biological samples. Tecan can now take a leading position by creating a smarter approach to MS sample

preparation and a better workflow. Tecan’s customers can realize higher levels of efficiency and better accuracy at

lower cost.

 

Acquisitions like these give Tecan the capability to build solutions that significantly enhance lab productivity.

In every lab, every day, we are empowering people to do more and more.

Prepared for China

 

With rapidly improving standards of living, its large urban centers, aging population and high rate of infrastructural development,

it is no surprise that China is the largest growth market for healthcare. Tecan is prepared for the opportunities.

 

China is moving fast and it is a pull market. Having feet on the ground and local business knowledge are the keys to success.

Building the Tecan brand in China is very important to maintain our global reputation of leadership, quality and trust.

 

Tecan has made important strides into the Chinese market in 2016:

Tecan’s direct force of around 80 representatives, including sales, service and application engineers ensures timely response to

sales enquiries and the assured deployment of Tecan instruments in diagnostic and research labs across the country.

 

Tecan creates a fast track for the introduction of diagnostic platforms and tests into the Chinese market by supplying

essential instrument components or full automation platforms to domestic diagnostic companies.

 

Chinese customers demand the highest standards of quality. No matter how advanced the lab equipment, however, the

final quality of results depends upon consistent quality of consumable products. Tecan consumable products, such as

pipetting tips and microplates, improve reliability and move the competitive playing field to Tecan’s areas of strength:

quality, workflow improvement and regulatory compliance.

Prepared for growth

 

Tecan has a highly educated workforce and is renowned for quality lab solutions. Staying competitive in a

global market means investing substantially in R&D and running operations as efficiently as possible. Therefore,

since 2014, Tecan has focused on efficiency in operations as well as in research and development.

 

In this multi-year project, Tecan has made significant progress by optimizing manufacturing processes and

costs while maintaining a fast pace of innovation. The single biggest saving was realized in the cost of

materials, which saved a mid-single-digit million Swiss franc amount in 2016.

 

Tecan will achieve long-term benefits from the steps taken to re-think the way products are developed. Tecan

now builds products on modular and flexible platforms that use standardized elements and common modules.

Focusing on core competencies, Tecan has involved the procurement and manufacturing engineers at a much

earlier phase of product development to not only design the most reliable and innovative products, but

also the most cost-effective solutions.

 

These efforts have already started to pay off. Tecan has enjoyed two consecutive years of double-digit growth,

outgrowing the market and gaining market share and at the same time increasing profitability.

 

As we advance into the century of biology, Tecan is committed to helping its customers advance the efficiency

of their labs. And like its customers, Tecan strives towards the highest standards of quality. This is a fundamental

requirement in the new world of life science discovery and medicine, and one which Tecan is uniquely prepared

to fulfill — advancing Tecan not only for the benefit of its customers, but also for its shareholders.