March 5, 2008 — FEI Co. (Nasdaq: FEIC) and Malvern have released Quanta Morphologi, a new product that combines the performance of FEI’s Quanta field-emission gun (FEG) scanning electron microscope and Malvern’s Morphologi particle characterization software.

Quanta Morphologi users will have direct analysis methods to obtain both size and shape information on submicron particles.

The companies said that the new product targets pharmaceutical companies, and will provide them greater control over new products and drug formulations requiring particle manufacture at increasingly smaller nanoscale dimensions.

“In today’s pharmaceutical industry the ‘nanonization’ of poorly soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients is one of the current strategies for developing new, more potent drugs,” said Arjen Tinke, principal scientist for particle characterization at Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical research and development in Europe. “Obviously, the size distribution analysis of these products is essential in the R&D process as well as in quality control. With Quanta Morphologi the first absolute sizing technique has become available that routinely enables the size and shape analysis of individual nanoparticles in polydisperse products.”