Roche Diagnostics acquires 454 Life Sciences

Roche Diagnostics has announced that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of majority-owned subsidiary of CuraGen, 454 Life Sciences. According to the terms of the agreement, Roche will purchase the entirety of 454 Life Sciences for $140 million (71.23 million pounds).

Furthermore, shareholders in 454 Life Sciences holding outstanding warrants and stock options they choose to exercise could receive up to $14.9 million in total.

As a consequence of this acquisition, Roche Diagnostics will gain access to the future generations of sequencing products from 454 Life Sciences and be able to use these products for in-vitro diagnostic applications.

Under the terms of a prior partnership agreement between the companies, Roche Diagnostics has been the exclusive global distributor of genome sequencer systems based on ultrafast 454 sequencing technology from 454 Life Sciences.

Severin Schwan, chief executive officer of Roche Diagnostics, said: “This acquisition is part of our strategy to strengthen our position as a major player in the sequencing market.”

He added that the previous agreement between the firms had been a successful one, with Roche Diagnostics now welcoming employees from 454 Life Sciences to the firm.

In January 2007, Roche Diagnostics and 454 Life Sciences announced the launch of the genome sequence FLX system, designed to meet the need of researchers in a number of fields.