Biotech startups feast at ancestors’ expense

June 5, 2009

One biotech’s garbage is another biotech’s treasure.
As life sciences companies close or pare operations, startups are finding high-priced equipment — in like-new condition — for pennies on the dollar.
For $30,000 — and, sometimes, the promise to scrub the floor behind them — Omniox Inc. has picked up $1.5 million worth of equipment from dead or dying biotechs that simply wanted to quickly off-load everything from a little-used centrifuge to protein purifiers.
The savings are significant for a five-month-old company funded by friends, family and a federal grant of $250,000.
“It’s the miracle of the downturn,” said Omniox founder Stephen Cary .