Last July, J&J division Ortho Diagnostic Systems initiated a joint venture with Medical Laboratory Automation to market MLA’s hemostasis instruments with Ortho’s hemostasis reagents. The move was a big blow to Dade (then a subsidiary of Baxter), which for years had a similar arrangement with MLA. Signing on with MLA, which boasts a 50% market share in hemostasis labs in North America, gave Ortho a seemingly significant advantage over Dade, which now had no hemostasis instruments to offer with its reagents.
Now, seven months later, Dade has responded to the Ortho/MLA alliance by signing on with Toa Medical Electronics, a Japan-based...