Industry Insight

As the automotive industry rebounds, this year’s Detroit auto show features more dazzle, more optimism and more politicians winding their way through the exhibits.   Read More...

President Barack Obama said Wednesday he would propose tax incentives for companies bringing manufacturing jobs that had been moved overseas back to the U.S. and clip tax breaks for those taking jobs out of the country, the New York Times reports. The American economy has added manufacturing jobs for two years in a row, after more than a decade of losses. The president didn't offer details of the tax proposals.   Read More...

A vaccine being developed by Dr. Frank O’Donnell’s latest venture has been listed among the medical breakthroughs to watch in 2012. Among the top five medical advances highlighted in a report by MyHealthNewsDaily is the development of cancer vaccines. Tampa-based Biovest International Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of O’Donnell’s Accentia Biopharmaceuticals Inc., is working on developing BiovaxID, a vaccine for certain types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.   Read More...

It may be surprtsing to learn that Missouri, often considered fl-y-over country,is in fact a booming business destination and an information tedmology (IT) hotspot.

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St. Louis-based Harbour Group Co.’s Auto Meter Products Inc. acquired automotive parts maker ProParts LLC for an undisclosed amount. Baltimore, Md.-based ProParts LLC makes sensors, controllers and instrumentation for race cars. Harbour Group, led by CEO Jeff Fox, is one of St. Louis’ largest privately-held companies with an estimated revenue of $1.3 billion in 2010. Owned by the Fox family, Harbour Group has acquired 168 companies in 34 industries since it was founded in 1976. It develops manufacturing firms for long-term growth.   Read More...

Sigma-Aldrich Corp. said this morning it will pay $350 million in cash to buy BioReliance Holdings Inc. from Avista Capital Partners, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. BioReliance is a Rockville, Md.-based biopharmaceutical testing company.   Read More...

Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay about $2.5 billion in cash to acquire Inhibitex, the New York Times reports. Inhibitex makes a treatment for hepatitis C. The move comes as large pharmaceutical makers such as Bristol-Myers are looking to boost their offerings with more profitable specialty products.   Read More...

Missouri is home to two universities on Kiplinger’s “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” list, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. Truman State University in Kirksville landed at No. 23 on the list, and the University of Missouri-Columbia grabbed the 79th spot. No Kansas schools made the list. The rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February issue. Kiplinger said it combines academics and affordability to produce its list. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill clinched the No. 1 spot.   Read More...

The U.S. Defense Department has awarded Boeing Co. a $3.48 billion, seven-year contract to develop, test, engineer and manufacture missile defense systems, the Chicago Tribune reports. Boeing beat out a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. to develop the U.S. long-range missile shield. Boeing's defense unit is based in Hazelwood.   Read More...

Eighty four F-15 fighter jets, which are built at Boeing’s facility in Hazelwood, are being sold to Saudi Arabia at a cost of $30 billion, according to the Obama administration. The White House said the deal will support more than 50,000 U.S. jobs. It is still unclear as to how many of those jobs are located in the St. Louis area. The deal would provide the Arab country with the new fighter jets as well as upgrades for 70 others.   Read More...

Mylan Inc. said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration approved the drugmaker's generic version of the high blood pressure treatment Teveten.   Read More...

A new $7 million-plus renewable energy center at Crowder College in southwest Missouri is nearing completion.   Read More...

University of Missouri researchers have developed a pain-free way to fill tooth cavities, technology that could be on the market in two years. The so-called “plasma brush” uses chemical reactions to disinfect and clean out cavities, then uses fluorescent light and electrodes to form a “cool flame” that delivers and bonds dental sealer, Meng Chen said.   Read More...

Missouri gained 10,900 manufacturing jobs between December 2010 and last month, an accomplishment Gov. Jay Nixon lauded Thursday.   Read More...

Will buy eMeter, a provider of meter data management.

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Missouri has closed on a $200 million export and investment agreement with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. The deal, which comes on top of $4.8 billion in agreements Gov. Jay Nixon reached while on an October trade mission in China, will increase Missouri exports to the northwestern China area during the next three years.   Read More...

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has joined forces with the nation’s three other largest nonprofit plant science research institutions to form the Association of Independent Plant Research Institutes. The other partners are the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., The Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., and The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Okla.   Read More...

Post Holdings Inc., the branded cereal business being spun off by Bill Stiritz’s Ralcorp Holdings Inc.    , will create at least 150 jobs locally, most of them in downtown St. Louis.   Read More...

On Monday the Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation, Chariton County and the city of Salisbury announced that JC Solutions LLC, a producer of agricultural products, will locate its manufacturing and packaging operations in Salisbury.   Read More...

IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. today announced that it has acquired the research and diagnostic laboratory (RADIL) business of the College of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Missouri for $43 million in cash. Based in Columbia, Missouri, RADIL provides health monitoring and diagnostic testing services to bioresearch customers.
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