GE Healthcare buys life science assets from Thermo Fisher Scientific

GE Healthcare has expanded its position in the life sciences market by purchasing several strategic assets from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The company has agreed to purchase Thermo Fisher's HyClone cell culture media and sera and gene modulation and magnetic beads businesses for approximately $1.06 billion (645.83 million pounds).

It will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of technologies for the discovery and production of innovative new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics, while fuelling the growth of its developing life sciences business.

The three acquired businesses generated combined annual revenues of approximately $250 million in 2013.

John Dineen, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare, said: "This deal makes a good business even better and will help us realise our vision of bringing better healthcare to more people at lower cost."

This comes after the firm provided Cellectis with a licence to use its stem cell technology in the creation of new products in November 2013.