NEW YORK — Agilent Technologies said this week that it is acquiring Canadian contract development and manufacturing firm Biovectra in a $925 million deal that will bolster Agilent's capabilities for its biopharma customers. Prince Edward Island-based Biovectra specializes in the production of biologics and complex chemistry products that are used in targeted therapies by mid- and large-size pharma customers in North America and Europe. Agilent said that the acquisition provides it with Biovectra's sterile fill-and-finish services, plasmid DNA and mRNA capabilities, liquid nanoparticle formulation operations, and gene-editing support services as well as expertise in fast-growing segments such as antibody-drug conjugates, highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients, and glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists. The deal is expected to close before 2025. Agilent predicts that the acquisition will be $.05 dilutive to its non-GAAP earnings per share in the first full year following closing.
Hologic said this week that it has completed its $310 million acquisition of UK-based breast cancer surgery technology firm Endomagnetics. Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Hologic said that the deal brings Cambridge-based Endomagnetics' wireless breast surgery location and lymphatic tracing solutions into Hologic's breast surgery portfolio and provides healthcare customers with an expanded range of technologies and improved user experiences. Hologic had announced the acquisition on April 29 and said at the time that Endomag had reported revenues of $35 million in 2023. The deal is expected to be slightly dilutive to Hologic's non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal year 2024, and it should reach breakeven in 2025, with accretive earnings in subsequent years.
In its Form 10-Q filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Danaher disclosed that it acquired an undisclosed business for $12 million in cash during the first half of 2024. The business complements existing units of Danaher's life sciences segment, and its annual sales were less than $3 million, the firm noted.
Invitae announced this week that it is sponsoring genetic testing through a program called Unlock Behind the Seizure for individuals in the United States who are under the age of 18 and have experienced an unprovoked seizure. The testing will come at no charge to the patients themselves, and Invitae hopes that any insights into epilepsy’s underlying genetic causes will contribute to more effective precision therapy options for that disorder.
Laboratory Corporation of America said this week that its board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.72 per share of common stock. The dividend will be payable on Sept. 13 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 29.
Revvity said this week that its board of directors has authorized a quarterly dividend of $.07 per common share, payable on Nov. 8, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Oct. 18, 2024.
GeneCentric Therapeutics announced this week that it has received a proprietary laboratory analysis code from the American Medical Association for its RNA expression-based PurIST pancreatic cancer test that is licensed to Tempus AI and runs on Tempus' xR platform. The PLA code is the first CPT code created to describe an algorithm-only analysis from previously sequenced transcriptomic data, GeneCentric said in a statement. The assay identifies the molecular subtype of patients with unresectable stage III or stage IV pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and classifies those patients into either a basal or classical subtype.
Swedish diagnostics developer Devyser Diagnostics said this week that its second quarter net sales grew 41 percent year over year to SEK 53.2 million ($4.9 million) from SEK 37.7 million. Factoring in exchange rate fluctuations, net sales were up 40 percent year over year, the company said. Devyser had a loss after tax of SEK 22.9 million, or SEK 1.41 per share, compared to a loss of SEK 14.6 million, or SEK .90 per share, a year ago.
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.