The recent introduction of Revvity, a new company that unifies life sciences and diagnostics businesses formerly affiliated with PerkinElmer, is meant to signal a fresh, tightly focused translational approach. The new entity indicates that it intends to deliver “end-to-end expertise and solutions from research discovery to development, and diagnosis to cure.” Revvity intends to move beyond traditional drug discovery and diagnostics and to drive progress in application areas such as multiomics, biomarker identification, imaging, prediction, screening, detection and diagnosis, and informatics.
“We’re looking to partner with our customers in a much more direct way, and thus help drive change,” says Alan Fletcher, PhD, senior vice president, life sciences, Revvity. The company, which began by assembling a portfolio of businesses aligned with attractive end markets, has shed the PerkinElmer name. (PerkinElmer is now the name of a subsidiary of New Mountain Capital, one that unifies the original PerkinElmer’s food safety, environmental testing, and industrial quality assurance offerings.)
“Our ability to interact with customers on a scientific level is now much more focused,” Fletcher asserts. “The ability to use our translational platforms means we can understand their scientific challenges in more detail and then provide solutions faster, because now we’re only dealing with this type of customer base. We now have shared capabilities and technologies internally, as well as centralized R&D.”
The idea is for Revvity scientists to access solutions in-house for related challenges—translating them from life sciences to diagnostics, for example—rather than starting each challenge from scratch, while still providing domain-specific expertise.
A new name, a clearer mission
The name Revvity blends “revolutionize” (rev) and the Latin word for life, “vita” (vit). The implication, Fletcher says, is that the company is “trying to revolutionize next-generation breakthroughs that improve lives.”
“That really is the focus of the new company,” Fletcher continues. “Rather than diversifying across a broad number of markets, we want to focus on health science solutions … to make a difference and be unique in the marketplace.”
Fletcher maintains that the company has the means to realize its vision: “We have a unique portfolio that is centralized on multiomics technologies encompassing genes, proteins, and cells, an we are looking at disease markers and finding more predictive and diagnostic information to allow therapeutic cures to be developed.” Such optimism is also evident in the new company’s tagline: “Impossible is inspiration.”
Currently, Revvity possesses an informatics platform (Revvity Signals); technologies to enable early patient diagnosis; tools to develop new gene therapies; the means to deliver those therapies to patients; and technology to monitor the dosage and effects of innovative therapies.
Continued expansion in the areas of genomics and proteomics is planned. The highly specialized field of cell and gene therapy is of particular interest because it complements Revvity’s diagnostic business. “Gene therapy,” Fletcher remarks, “is about the ability to deliver the right gene to the right target at the right time, and I think we have the technologies to allow that to happen.”
Pin-point Base Editing is one example. “It goes one stage further than broad gene editing, for much more specificity,” Fletcher notes. Pin-point was developed with Rutgers University to deliver gene modifications to very specific tissues in the body using Revvity’s viral vector delivery technologies. Revvity is working on proof of principle with multiple pharmaceutical companies.
“A cell therapy regimen is about receiving the right dose every time,” Fletcher points out. “We provide a lot of quality control in that area. For example, we have the capabilities that allow us to analyze the right volume of cells for consistency and reproducibility.”
Recently, the company expanded its capabilities in genomic purification. A number of platforms are coming out, Fletcher says. The company is also developing informatics tools and technologies that turn images into data and information.
Going forward, Revvity will develop more projects to support patient selection for clinical and diagnostics programs, as well as to develop tools to better identify and quantitate likely therapeutic targets.
Heeding a call to action
“We look at our customer’s challenges as a call to action,” Fletcher says. Revvity’s customers are to be found in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, in diagnostic laboratories, in academia, and in government agencies. To help customers in these areas, Revvity provides reagents, consumables, assays, instruments, and software.
Revvity is particularly interested in facilitating personalized medicine. And its contributions range from the development of tools and technologies to the pursuit of appropriate rules and regulations. “We’re working very closely with regulators to understand barriers to success,” Fletcher says.
Revvity recognizes that existing guidelines aren’t necessarily appropriate for new, revolutionary therapies. For example, clinical evaluations of immunotherapies may need to run longer than those of small molecules. Fletcher notes that Revvity is working to understand “what is needed to ensure a cell therapy trial can be successful.”
Maintaining ties, making new connections
To maintain brand identity, Revvity will continue using familiar portfolio brands while gradually associating them with the company’s new look and feel. For example, several businesses that used to be affiliated with PerkinElmer and are now part of Revvity will continue using their existing (and familiar) product names. These businesses include Cisbio, Horizon Discovery, Nexcelom Bioscience, Omni International, Oxford Immunotec, Sirion Biotech, and SonoVol.
“We expect low double-digit growth going forward, which is a significant uptick from the profile of the previous company,” Fletcher relates. “More important, we expect operating margins north of 30% over the coming years. Our addressable markets in life sciences and diagnostics have gone up approximately twofold in terms of opportunities with the portfolio we put in place.”
Such rapid growth, combined with a narrow structure base, may encourage Revvity to reinvest profits into the business, enhancing the company’s ability to respond to its customer’s needs. After ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in May, Revvity started engaging customers and investors throughout the world with road shows to highlight its new focus and capabilities.
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