Agilent Technologies Inc. will acquire Resolution Bioscience Inc. for $550 million in cash at closing and up to an additional $145 million based on performance milestones. The deal will expand Agilent’s cancer diagnostics offerings and its presence in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for the fast-growing precision medicine market. The acquisition is expected to close in April 2021.

Non-clinical testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a major goal for regulators across the globe for months. Emergency use authorization (EUA) was just granted by the FDA is for the Quidel Quickvue COVID-19 test, an at-home antigen test with a turnaround time of 10 minutes. It’s the latest in a series of approvals of home tests and collection kits that promises to help control the pandemic.

Hologic Inc. continues to strengthen its diagnostics businesses via tuck-ins, this time with the acquisition of Diagenode SA for $159 million. The Belgium-based developer of molecular assays and epigenetics products counts more than 30 real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in its portfolio. Marlborough, Mass.-based Hologic has been on a spending spree in recent months. In January, the company completed the acquisition of Somatex Medical Technologies GmbH for about $64 million and agreed to buy molecular diagnostics company Biotheranostics Inc. for $230 million.