Perkinelmer Inc. has agreed to acquire in vitro diagnostics company Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings plc (IDS) for approximately $155 million (£110 million). The deal will enable Perkinelmer to expand its overall diagnostics business, particularly the immunodiagnostics segment. Based in Boldon, U.K., IDS makes chemiluminescence products in endocrinology, autoimmunity and infectious diseases. The company has three operating business units: Automated IVD Business, Manual IVD Business and Licensing and Technology.
HONG KONG – Dia Imaging Analysis Ltd. has teamed up with Sonoscape Medical Corp. to deliver cardiac ultrasound artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. The partnership aims to reduce the variability associated with manual or visual analysis, and increase efficiency and accuracy throughout the analysis process. As a result, China-based Sonoscape's ultrasound devices will be offering a layer of automated AI-based analysis to support the clinician’s decision-making process, courtesy of Dia's AI-based cardiac solutions.
Digital health and diagnostic efforts continue to dominate med-tech deal-making so far in 2021, while activity focused on medical devices has dropped over the last few years. COVID-19 partnerships also have fallen since last year. Digital health accounts for 43%, the largest portion, of deals this year. About 239 deals are targeting this space, including pandemic efforts. Diagnostic efforts represent about 19%, or 103, of the total deals.
About 13 years after four MIT graduate students and a computer science professor launched Ginkgo Bioworks Inc., the Boston-based synthetic biology platform business is merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the largest life sciences deal of its kind to date.
China saw $28.5 billion invested in its life sciences sector in 2020, which was double the previous year’s amount and sets a five-year high. Partnering activities and IPOs also grew exponentially over the last five years to set records.
Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) has decided to spin off its diabetes care business, after nearly a century growing a broad portfolio of insulin injection devices. The transaction, which will result in a publicly traded company, tentatively dubbed Newco, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.
LONDON – Neogenomics Inc. reported it plans to acquire Inivata Ltd., taking up a $390 million fixed price option to purchase the liquid biopsy specialist eight months early. The option was agreed to in May 2020, when Neogenomics made a $25 million minority equity investment in Inivata and was granted the right to acquire the rest of the company by the end of 2021.
Soulbrain Holdings Co. Ltd. ramped up its unusual diversification program with the acquisition of Pixcell Medical Technologies Ltd. as part of the semiconductor company's shift into health care and in vitro diagnostics. The acquisition of Pixcell follows Soulbrain’s acquisition of Ark Diagnostics Inc. in 2018 as the company looks to the bio-health care industry as its "engine for new growth."
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp) further consolidated its position as a leading provider of rheumatoid arthritis testing with a definitive agreement to acquire the Vectra assay from Myriad Genetics Inc. along with other assets of the Salt Lake City-based company’s autoimmune business unit in a deal valued at $150 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2021.
In a first for the biotech industry, the European Commission (EC) has imposed a €7.5 million (US$9.05 million) fine on Sigma-Aldrich, under the EU’s 2004 Merger Regulation, for providing incorrect or misleading information during a merger investigation.