Nobel Prize for Medicine and an interesting Cincinnati connection

Dr. Barry J. Marshall, 54, a gastroenterologist from the University of Western Australia in Nedlands, and Dr. J. Robin Warren, 68, a retired pathologist from the Royal Perth Hospital won the Nobel Prize for Medicine today.

They were recognized for finding a connection between the Heliobacter pylori bacterium, ulcers and cancer.

What's the Cincinnati connection? Meridian Bioscience (Stock Symbol: VIVO), a small but rapidly growing life science company based in Cincinnati, has a popoular test-kit for the H. pylori bacterium. Meridian also makes a number of other test-kits including Flu test-kits.

You might remember that Meridian was in the news recently because it sent out proficiency samples to testing labs for a potentially dangerous flu virus. The company eventually had all the samples destroyed at the request of the World Health Organization.

Even with all the bad publicity from the proficiency samples, the company has seen a lot of growth lately and their stock has doubled in the last year. Also unique to this small growth company is that it pays a dividend, currently yielding 1.5%.

Full disclosure: Porkopolis is a stock holder in Meridian.