Sizable Number of Acquisitions and Joint Ventures in Molecular Diagnostics

Molecular Diagnostic companies are partnering to survive, according to Kalorama Information. The healthcare market research publisher said that the 5.5 billion dollar molecular diagnostics grew by combination last year. Where possible partnerships were formed and in some cases outright purchases. The report said numerous acquisitions and joint ventures occurred in 2013 and will change the market today. The finding was made in Kalorama’s The World Market for Molecular Diagnostics Update, the firm latest look at the molecular IVD segment.

“A dynamic market encourages players to bolster their offerings with acquisitions, collaborations and licensing agreements,” said Shara Rosen, Kalorama analyst and author of the report.

The report said the complexity of molecular testing encourages companies to augment their capabilities via collaborations and licensing agreements. Examples include:

• Exosome Diagnostics U.S. with Eli Lilly, cancer PGx
• Illumina U.S. with Global Genomics cardiac markers
• Life Technologies/Thermo Fisher U.S. with Merck Serono drug PG

Collaboration is not always possible with companies remaining independent entities and thus many companies made purchase to cover gaps in expertise. Kalorama cited the following as examples of 17 significant 2013 purchases where IVD companies acquired molecular dx startups or small concerns.

• bioMerieux’s purchase of BioFire Diagnostics
• Grifol’s purchase of Novartis’s blood bank testing
• Illumina’s continued expansion into clinical markets (Next Bio, Advanced Liquid Logic)
• Qiagen’s purchase of CLC Bio.
• Sysmex’s purchase of Inostics digital PCR from Indivumed

Kalorama goes into greater detail about these combinations in its report, The World Market for Molecular Diagnostics Update. Market analysis in the covers world markets for in vitro diagnostics, particularly North America and Western Europe. Segment markets within molecular diagnostics are broken out, and trends and partnerships are given extensive discussion. The report can be found at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Molecular-Diagnostics-Month-7969379/.