NEW YORK (360Dx) – Roche and Foundation Medicine said this week that Roche's wholly owned subsidiary called 062018 Merger Subsidiary has purchased approximately 12.5 million shares of Foundation Medicine's common stock at a price of $137 per share as part Roche's tender offer for the company, which expired at the end of July 30.
Roche announced in June it would acquire all remaining shares of Foundation Medicine it didn't already have for $2.4 billion in cash.
The shares purchased this week for a total of $1.72 billion represent about 77.3 percent of Foundation Medicine's common stock outstanding, excluding shares Roche already owns. Roche plans to promptly complete the acquisition of Foundation Medicine without a vote or meeting of Foundation's shareholders by merging 062018 Merger Subsidiary with Foundation Medicine. All shares not owned by Roche will then be converted into the right to receive the same price per share as was paid in the tender offer. Following the completion of the merger, Foundation Medicine will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Roche and its shares will cease to trade on the Nasdaq.
The University of Arizona Cancer Center and its clinical partner Banner-University Medical Center Tucson have joined Caris’ Precision Oncology Alliance, whose goal is to develop standards of care and best practices for the use of tumor profiling. The alliance consists of 25 academic, hospital, and community-based cancer institutions, including seven National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. It will use Caris’ comprehensive genomic profiling plus tumor profiling service, Caris Molecular Intelligence, to identify therapy options and clinical trial opportunities based on the molecular characteristics of patients. Caris Molecular Intelligence evaluates DNA, RNA, and proteins to create a molecular profile to guide individualized treatment decisions.
Streck and Cromoion SRL, a distributor of human and veterinary diagnostic products in Argentina, have signed a three-year distribution agreement for Streck's full portfolio of controls, cell stabilization. and molecular products. Streck's cell stabilization products include Cyto-Chex BCT, a blood collection tube for the preservation of whole-blood specimens for immunophenotyping by flow cytometry; Cell-Free DNA BCT, a direct-draw blood collection tube which stabilizes nucleated blood cells and prevents the release of genomic DNA; Cell-Free RNA BCT, a blood collection tube with a patented preservative which stabilizes circulating RNA in plasma and prevents the release of non-target background RNA from blood cells during sample processing and storage; and Cell-Free DNA Urine Preserve, a liquid reagent that stabilizes cell-free DNA in urine.
The Karolinska Institutet is participating in PanFAM-1, Immunovia said this week. PanFAM-1 is a prospective study examining the early diagnosis of high-risk individuals with familial pancreatic cancer. The study is using Immunovia’s IMMray PanCan-d test to analyze more than 1,000 individuals over three year at sites in Sweden, the US, and Europe. In addition to the Karolinska Institutet, Mount Sinai in New York, the University of Liverpool in the UK, Sahlgrenska University in Sweden, and others, are participating in the study .
Meridian Bioscience this week declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2018.
Arrayit said this week it has signed allergy testing contracts with 178 medical clinics in the US, which will use Arrayit’s allergy testing services to aid in the diagnosis of allergy and asthma in areas including anti-aging, back pain and sciatica, chiropractic care, dermatology, and others. The company recently created a nationwide sales network of 1,700 to sell and distribute its finger stick microarray tests to medical clinics and retail stores.
Interpace Diagnostics reported this week that it has received a letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications committee notifying the company that it has regained compliance with the requirement of the exchange to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share. The letter noted that from July 16 to July 27, the closing bid price of Interpace's common stock has been at $1.00 per share or greater.
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.