NEW YORK – Invitae said this week that it completed its acquisition of Singular Bio on June 19. The deal was announced June 17. At closing, Invitae issued about 2.5 million shares of its common stock and approximately $5.7 million in cash to the former security holders of Singular Bio. Part of the cash consideration is being held back to satisfy potential indemnification obligations. Following the merger, Invitae also granted $90 million of restricted stock units to the former employees of Singular Bio as an inducement to their continued employment by Invitae. The company will issue shares of its common stock to these employees based on time and milestone agreements.
Exact Sciences announced this week that it has opened its new, 169,000-square-foot clinical laboratory and warehouse in Madison, Wisconsin. The laboratory will process the company's colorectal cancer screening test, Cologuard. The company said it expects the new facility to help bring its total Cologuard processing capacity to 7 million tests per year by the end of 2019 — 4 million tests per year at the new lab and 3 million per year at Exact's existing lab.
Danaher revealed this week the name of a separate company that it plans to spin off, Envista. It will comprise three operating companies currently within Danaher's dental segment, Nobel Biocare Systems, KaVo kerr, and Ormco. The companies have significant positions within dental implants, orthodontics, dental equipment, and consumables, Danaher said. Amir Aghdaei will be president and CEO of Envista. He currently is Danaher Group Executive with responsibility for the dental segment. Danaher plans to take Envista public in the second half of 2019. Its shares would list on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol NVST.
Dutch diagnostics company SkylineDx said this week that it has been granted accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, following its CLIA certification in December 2018. During the CAP accreditation process, inspectors examined and audited the company's lab in San Diego, California to ensure that it met CAP's requirements for lab records, quality control procedures, staff qualifications, equipment, facilities and safety programs, SkylineDx said.
Personalis said this week that it has closed its initial public offering of more than 9.1 million shares of its common stock at $17 per share. The underwriters exercised their option to purchase up to almost 1.2 million additional shares of Personalis' common stock. Net proceeds from the IPO are estimated to be approximately $140.8 million. The firm's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on June 20 under ticker symbol PSNL.
South Korean molecular diagnostics firm Seegene said this week that its nucleic acid extraction instrument, the Seegene Starlet, has been classified as a Class I device, and it will begin offering the tool and universal extraction cartridge kits in the US.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.