Sartorius, Pall reap vaccine-gear bounty

Sartorius Stedim Biotech credits much of its 2009 financial success to sales of single-use products for vaccine production. "High demand was driven by vaccine manufacturers who required considerable quantities of single-use bags and filters used in the production of the vaccine against the H1N1 virus. This effect contributed around two percentage points to growth," the company reports to shareholders.

Order intake for the biotech division jumped 12 percent, thanks in large part to the disposables. The good news is balanced by bad: Its large-scale bioreactor systems business "slightly declined."

"Pharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly switching from stationary installed stainless steel equipment to flexibly deployable single-use products made of plastic," the company says. It promises to launch "highly attractive new products" in 2010.

Pall Life Sciences, too, reports better than 10 percent biopharma sales growth for the quarter that ended in October 2009. "Sales within pharmaceutical submarkets increased 9.8 percent with strong consumables growth in all geographies. Vaccine production remains high," it told shareholders.

- see the Sartorius annual review
- here's the Pall report

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