Ireland-based Trinity Biotech plc completed its acquisition of aCalifornia manufacturer of immunoassays with a stock swap valuedat about $8 million.Stockholders of Disease Detection International (DDI), of Irvine,Calif., received one A ordinary share of Dublin-based Trinity forone share of DDI common stock, 2.78 ordinary shares for eachshare of DDI series B preferred stock and 2.33 ordinary shares foreach share of DDI 10 percent exchangeable preferred.Michael Hubbard, Trinity's vice chairman, said the merger wasworth between $7.5 million and $8 million to DDI shareholders.Prior to the merger, Trinity owned about 56 percent of DDI. Theacquisition was announced in March and completed this week. (SeeBioWorld Today, March 24, 1994, Page 5.)The merger, Hubbard said, creates one company, Trinity Biotech,which will trade on the NASDAQ market under the symbol,TRIBY, beginning Oct. 24.Hubbard said some DDI employees were laid off and Trinity willtransfer staff from Ireland to the California offices. Trinity has atotal of about 40 employees.Trinity sells DDI-developed tests for HIV and other infectiousdiseases outside the U.S. Hubbard said Trinity and DDI havedeveloped a single-step HIV test, which will be submitted to theFDA for approval next year. In the U.S., Trinity has pregnancy andovulation tests on the market. _ Charles Craig

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