Beckman Sells Brea Operation for $2 Million

Beckman Instruments Inc. said Wednesday that it completed the sale late last week of its Brea-based radioimmunoassay operations to Cambridge Medical Technology Corp., of Billerica, Mass. A spokesman for Cambridge Medical said the company paid Beckman “slightly more than $2 million for the product line and customer list.

Radioimmunoassay, according to Sue Stepan, a Beckman spokeswoman, is used in diagnosing diseases and monitoring medication levels in the bloodstream. Beckman’s radioimmunoassay business accounted for about $2 million in revenues in 1984, she said.

Beckman, headquartered in Fullerton, was purchased in 1982 by SmithKline Corp., a Philadephia-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, for $1 billion. Stepan said no Beckman employees will join the Massachusetts firm, which had fiscal 1985 earnings of $14,743 on revenue of 2.28 million.