Roche Holding Acquires GenMark Diagnostics

Roche Holding Acquires GenMark Diagnostics

Last week, the pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG (SIX: RO) announced a new acquisition for GenMark Diagnostics (NASDAQ: GNMK), a Carlsbad, California lab services company. GenMark Diagnostics is a leading provider of multiplex molecular diagnostic solutions designed to enhance patient care, improve key quality metrics and reduce the total cost-of-care. GenMark’s eSensor XT-8 and ePlex systems are designed to support a broad range of molecular diagnostic sample-to-answer tests with compact, easy-to-use workstations and self-contained, disposable test cartridges.  The deal is valued at $1.8 billion cash, or $24.05 per share, a premium of... Read More »
Quest Diagnostics Acquires Lab Division from Mercy

Quest Diagnostics Acquires Lab Division from Mercy

In an effort to expand its network, Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) has announced a deal with not-for-profit Mercy, a multi-state healthcare system. Quest is acquiring the health system’s outreach laboratory services business, which currently operates from 29 hospital laboratories and two independent clinic laboratories in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.  No terms were disclosed in the all-cash transaction, but under the agreement, testing associated with outreach lab services will transition to the Quest Diagnostics full-service laboratory in Lenexa, Kansas, and a network of rapid response laboratories across the region. Mercy will continue to wholly own and operate its hospital... Read More »
Veracyte Snaps Up Decipher Biosciences, Inc.

Veracyte Snaps Up Decipher Biosciences, Inc.

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCYT), the South San Francisco, California-based diagnostics company, has bought Decipher Biosciences, Inc for $600 million consisting of $250 million in cash and up to $350 million in stock. Decipher Biosciences is a commercial-stage precision oncology company focused on urologic cancers. It has a comprehensive portfolio of tests which leverage whole transcriptome analysis and proprietary machine learning algorithms to improve patient decision-making across the clinical care continuum. This acquisition solidifies Veracyte’s global position in the genomic cancer diagnostics market while accelerating revenue growth. Collectively, Decipher’s genomic tests have... Read More »
Thermo Fisher Acquires Henogen S.A.

Thermo Fisher Acquires Henogen S.A.

After a surprise collapse of its takeover bid for QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is back with a new deal in 2021. Thermo Fisher is buying Henogen S.A. from Groupe Novasep SAS for approximately EUR 725 million ($877.5 million) in cash. Based in Belgium, Henogen S.A. is a viral vector manufacturing business that provides contract manufacturing services for vaccines and therapies to biotechnology companies and large biopharma customers.  Groupe Novasep partners with a variety of industries to provide technically optimized and economical solutions for the life science industry.  Henogen has two facilities and approximately 400 employees with substantial... Read More »
Butterfly Network Undergoes Reverse Merger

Butterfly Network Undergoes Reverse Merger

Another week, another reverse merger. Private companies going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) seem to be a dime a dozen in 2020. Primary Care operator Cano Health, LLC announced it was going public last week in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, and Clover Health struck a $3.7 billion reverse merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III (NYSE: IPOC). This time, the SPAC is Longview Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LGVW), which is sponsored by Glenview Capital Management, LLC. The company going public is Butterfly Network, Inc., which created the world’s first handheld, single-probe whole-body ultrasound system, Butterfly iQ, to make ultrasound technology more... Read More »
Diagnostics, COVID-19 and Beyond

Diagnostics, COVID-19 and Beyond

Testing has become one of the most defining words of 2020, especially as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. We see it in headlines daily and President Trump lists the testing capacity of the United States as one of his crowning achievements.  But politics and media coverage aside, health experts often cite testing as one of the key components to containing the spread of the virus, underscoring the importance of those services.   The demand for COVID-19 testing and diagnostics can be seen in recent quarterly earnings reports. LabCorp’s (NYSE: LH) revenue jumped by 33% in Q3:20 to $3.9 billion, compared with Q3:19. Roughly 31.5% of the increase was thanks to organic growth, bolstered by... Read More »