• Interview with LifeShield Security
• Interview with
  Dow Corning Corporation
• Interview with
  Wermers Companies
• Interview with Parron Hall
• Interview with Evanco
  Realty Advisors, Inc.
• Bavaria International
  Aircraft Leasing
• Sullivan Hill Continues Partnership with Washington Elementary
• Axis-Shield
• Sullivan Hill Continues German Referendars Partnership

Axis-Shield

Founded in 1982, Axis-Shield is an international and innovative in-vitro diagnostics company, headquartered in Dundee, Scotland with R&D and manufacturing bases in Dundee and Oslo, Norway.  The company, which is publicly traded in Europe, had worldwide revenues of more than £100,000,000 in 2010.  It specializes in the supply of instruments and tests for the rapidly growing physician's office testing market and the development, manufacture and marketing of innovative proprietary diagnostics kits in areas of clinical need, including cardiovascular and neurological diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, infection and diabetes.

Following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Colin King, Site Director for Axis-Shield’s Laboratory Division...

What is Axis-Shield’s business focus/model?

Our focus is to improve healthcare as a global provider of innovative and reliable diagnostic tests.  At the same time, our mission is to identify and develop novel patentable diagnostic markers and technologies which can be commercialized to meet clinical needs, both in the laboratory and at the point of care.  We believe that our products provide clinicians and other healthcare professionals with tools to deliver better patient care.

What is your role with the company?

Our company has three divisions – the Point Of Care, Laboratory and Distribution division.  I joined the company in 1995, and was named Site Director for the Laboratory Division in 2007.  Currently, I oversee the day to day operations in Dundee, which specializes in proprietary markers for the early diagnosis and management of critical illnesses such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, sepsis and diabetes.

When did Axis-Shield begin working with Sullivan Hill?

Joe Marshall has been working with Axis Shield for more than ten years, in a variety of corporate and business transactions.   We worked together most recently on a transaction where our company acquired the assets of Catch, Inc., a Washington state-based firm which had technology and IP related to homocysteine testing, an area in which Axis-Shield is already a competitor.  It was a complicated deal and the process took over a year to complete.  Joe worked with our team throughout to negotiate the letter of intent, design the due diligence, create and negotiate the asset purchase and negotiate several key ancillary agreements with important suppliers.  His experience was invaluable in keeping the deal on track. 

What was the outcome of that effort?

The acquisition was successfully concluded in December of 2010.  During that time, we relied on Joe not only for his legal expertise, but also for his business acumen in providing general support and advice to assist us to structure the best deal possible. 

In looking to the future, where do you see Axis-Shield headed?

At Axis-Shield, the core focus of our business continues to be on innovation and the development of new markers with IP protection that will increase testing in the laboratory and point-of-care settings.

We are continually striving to develop improved methods to diagnose disease, employing both in-house expertise and our links with external centers of excellence.  We will continue to focus our efforts on developing partners, acquiring and/or developing licensing agreements with other companies to further that goal.  When opportunities arise in the U.S. to do just that, we will be looking to Joe Marshall and Sullivan Hill for their valuable counsel.