Outsourcing Acquisitions from Eurofins, Illumina, McKesson
CRO (Contract Research Organisation) Eurofins Scientific has announced the acquisition of AROS Applied Biotechnology as it strengthens its genomic offerings.
AROS was founded in 2000 and has been a genomics solution provider to the pharma industry, recently specializing in providing Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), a field that Eurofins has been developing through its genomic service arm, Eurofins MWG Operon.
Eurofins CEO Dr. Giles Martin said of the acquisition: “It expands our geographical footprint for our genomics offering, and their competence is entirely consistent with our focus on high-quality next generation sequencing.”
The company has been over-seeing a transformation in NGS technology from a research tool to wider-based industrial application and, with this added acquisition, hopes to be part of an industry that is - according to a report published last April by Markets and Markets - the fastest growing and the most lucrative segment in the genomics space.
Another genomic provide, Illumina, has also been flashing its cash this week and finalised the acquisition of Verinata Health.
The completed deal will see Verinata become a wholly owned subsidiary of Illumina, which agreed in January to buy the company – a provider of non-invasive tests for the early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities – for $350m (€264m) plus potential milestone payments of up to $100m.
The contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) will now have access to Verinata’s offerings in the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) technologies for high-risk pregnancy.
The completed deal comes three months after San Diego-based Illumina lost out to China’s BGI-Shenzhen in the takeover of gene-sequencing company Complete Genomics.
Finally, healthcare service and IT Company McKesson Corporation has shelled out $2.1bn to purchase PSS World Medical.
The deal - on the cards since October - will see McKesson incorporate the Florida, US-based distributor and will be reported as part of McKesson’s Distribution Services. President and CEO of PSS Gary Corless will become COO at McKesson but nothing has been mentioned regarding the rest of PSS’s 800 employees.
“The combination of McKesson’s Medical Surgical business and PSS World Medical is an exciting next step in McKesson’s commitment to improve the business health and clinical performance across healthcare,” said John H. Hammergren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, McKesson.
He added: “The unified organization will bring extensive distribution capabilities, deep product and technology expertise and a broad portfolio of business services to an expanding industry.”
