Small, Strategic Acquisitions Prevail in Closing Days of 2012

by Glenn S. Demby | Feb 21, 2015 | Clinical Diagnostics Insider, Diagnostic Testing and Emerging Technologies

In the closing days of 2012 economic uncertainties prevailed, including matters that would directly impact the financial future of the diagnostics industry. The fate of the research and development tax credit and the budget health of the National Institutes of Health weighed heavily on medtech investors. Other economic stresses, like the impending 2.3 percent excise tax on the medical device industry and the 2013 increase in federal capital gains tax rates, loomed. Overall, mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences industry were down, experts say around 33 percent compared to 2011, and given investors’ reservations there were no blockbuster acquisitions in the waning days of 2012. Instead the diagnostics industry saw a series of small transactions primarily driven by methodical moves—calculated divestitures, solidification of intellectual property (IP) portfolios, and strategic enhancements to existing product lines. Dec. 31—Access Genetics (Eden Prairie, Minn.) acquired Quest Diagnostics’ (Madison, N.J.) OralDNA labs. The salivary diagnostics unit was divested as an ongoing part of Quest’s reorganization to concentrate on services for physicians and hospitals, the company said. OralDNA serviced the dental industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dec. 28—Miami-based OPKO Health made two December acquisitions to expedite its commercial launch of its 4Kscore […]

In the closing days of 2012 economic uncertainties prevailed, including matters that would directly impact the financial future of the diagnostics industry. The fate of the research and development tax credit and the budget health of the National Institutes of Health weighed heavily on medtech investors. Other economic stresses, like the impending 2.3 percent excise tax on the medical device industry and the 2013 increase in federal capital gains tax rates, loomed. Overall, mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences industry were down, experts say around 33 percent compared to 2011, and given investors’ reservations there were no blockbuster acquisitions in the waning days of 2012. Instead the diagnostics industry saw a series of small transactions primarily driven by methodical moves—calculated divestitures, solidification of intellectual property (IP) portfolios, and strategic enhancements to existing product lines.

Dec. 31—Access Genetics (Eden Prairie, Minn.) acquired Quest Diagnostics’ (Madison, N.J.) OralDNA labs. The salivary diagnostics unit was divested as an ongoing part of Quest’s reorganization to concentrate on services for physicians and hospitals, the company said. OralDNA serviced the dental industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dec. 28—Miami-based OPKO Health made two December acquisitions to expedite its commercial launch of its 4Kscore prostate cancer test both in the United States and abroad. At the end of the month OPKO Health acquired Silcon Comércio (Brazil) to more rapidly establish a presence in the high-growth Brazilian market. Just two weeks earlier OPKO Health purchased Prost-Data (a Nashville-based Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-waived laboratory doing business as OURLab). OURLab has 18 phlebotomy sites nationally and an experienced sales force calling primarily on urologists, which is expected to accelerate OPKO Health’s domestic commercialization strategy.

Dec. 26—Amarantus BioSciences (Sunnyvale, Calif.) purchased all of the IP assets from bankrupt Power 3 Medical Products. Included in the sale were five patents for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, 20 pending patent applications (for biomarkers and assays related to Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic myelogenous leukemia, and breast cancer), and all supporting data sets. The assets were acquired for $40,000 and will aid in the commercialization of the NuroPro Parkinson’s disease test (previously licensed from Power 3) as well as enhance the diagnostic pipeline for Alzheimer’s-related products.

Dec. 21—Dako (an Agilent Technologies company; Denmark) acquired the IP behind System Dynamics’ (Santa Barbara, Calif.) connectivity software. The two companies have worked together for 12 years on software used in Dako’s Autostainer and Artisan cancer diagnostics instruments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dec. 16—Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, Calif.) acquired antibody manufacturer AbD Serotec (a division of MorphoSys AG; United Kingdom) for 53 million euros in cash. The transaction is expected to close in January. Bio-Rad says the acquisition gives the company access to a comprehensive catalog of antibodies allowing it to offer total assay solutions that can be validated on its research platforms for western blotting, multiplex protein expression, ELISA, and cell sorting.

Dec. 13—Antibody-based tool company Rockland Immunochemicals (Gilbertsville, Pa.) bought the TrueBlot IP/Western blot product line from eBioscience, (an Affymetrix company; San Diego). The TrueBlot product line will expand Rockland’s Western blot workflow offerings. eBioscience divested the Western blot line to focus on flow cytometry, immunoassay, and immunohistochemistry applications in the immunology and oncology fields.

Small, Strategic Acquisitions Prevail in Closing Days of 2012

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