NEW YORK – Myriad Genetics has entered a definitive agreement to sell certain operating assets and intellectual property, including its Vectra rheumatoid arthritis test, to Labcorp for $150 million in cash.
The companies said that the deal for Vectra, a blood-based proteomic test that measures levels of 12 proteins to gauge disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis to monitor disease severity and treatment effectiveness, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.
Myriad acquired the Vectra test in 2014 through its $270 million purchase of Crescendo Bioscience, which developed the test. However, the company noted earlier this year that it was looking for someone to acquire the asset. According to Myriad, it has been used by more than 1 million patients and has been ordered by the majority of US rheumatologists.
"Our agreement with Labcorp meets our goals of ensuring broad access to the Vectra test for patients, ensuring a good home for our teammates, and delivering strong value for our shareholders," Paul Diaz, president and CEO of Myriad, said in a statement. "While we are strong believers in the future growth prospects for Vectra, this divestiture will allow us to increase operational focus and better execute in our core strategic businesses of women’s health, oncology, and mental health."
"Labcorp has consistently been a major player in rheumatology and continues to focus on providing medical professionals with the data they need to best treat their RA patients," said Brian Caveney, chief medical officer and president of Labcorp Diagnostics. "The addition of the Vectra testing capabilities to our in-house products offers tremendous potential for us to expand the test's availability and make Labcorp a single-source diagnostics solution for RA providers."
Last week, Castle Biosciences said it will acquire Myriad's myPath Melanoma laboratory and test for $32.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.