Diagnostics & Imaging Week Washington Editor

Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, Massachusetts) said it would purchase the Determine/DainaScreen assets from Abbott Diagnostics (Abbott Park, Illinois) for $56.5 million.

Determine/DainaScreen rapid diagnostic testing provide qualitative results for detecting several diseases, including hepatitis, HIV and syphilis. Assets that are part of the purchase include manufacturing equipment, and certain transferred and licensed intellectual property related to the products, Inverness said.

The business represented by Determine/DainaScreen generated revenues of about $23 million in 2004.

"This acquisition allows [us] to enhance its professional diagnostics product line with the addition of the premiere rapid HIV test worldwide," said Ron Zwanziger, president and CEO of Inverness. "It also provides Inverness with a viable platform on which we can solidify our commitment to the Japanese market."

DainaScreen tests are primarily sold in Japan, a spokesperson for Abbott told Diagnostics & Imaging Week.

Abbott will continue to distribute the Determine products, which are marketed outside of the U.S., for up to 32 months and will receive a sales commission on net sales.

Under a long-term supply arrangement, Inverness will sell the tests to Abbott, allowing the company to continue to distribute the Determine HIV 1/2 rapid test — at no profit to Abbott — through the Abbott Access to HIV Care program in 69 countries, including all of Africa.

Abbott also will continue to donate Determine HIV tests purchased from Inverness to programs that address mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the same countries, it said.

Inverness said it is exploring new opportunities for its proprietary electrochemical and other technologies in a variety of professional diagnostic and consumer applications, including immunodiagnostics, with a focus on women's health, cardiology and infectious disease.

The company manufactures consumer pregnancy and fertility/ovulation tests and rapid point-of-care diagnostics.