NEW YORK – Thermo Fisher Scientific this week commenced a previously announced tender offer to acquire all outstanding common shares and all outstanding American Depositary Shares (ADS) of Olink for $26.00 per common share and per ADS in cash. The offer and withdrawal rights will expire at 6 pm EST on Nov. 30 unless the offer is extended or earlier terminated. The offer is also subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and a minimum tender condition, the company noted. After "careful consideration," Olink said its board of directors has recommended that its shareholders accept the offer and tender their common shares and ADS to the buyer.
Myriad Genetics this week invoked its option to increase the maximum principal amount of a $90 million asset-backed credit facility by $25 million. The option was enacted via a new commitment by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. The company also amended its original credit agreement to allow the leasing and sale of office furniture and related equipment, extend the time for compliance with certain post-closing obligations of the original credit agreement, and revise the language of the original security agreement to better reflect Myriad’s current cash management system.
T2 Biosystems said this week that it has regained compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid pricing requirement of $1 per share to remain listed on the exchange. The company said it was also informed by the Nasdaq that it will be subject to a mandatory panel monitor for one year. T2 is required to maintain the minimum bid price for that period. If it fails to comply, it will not be permitted additional time to regain compliance.
DermTech this week said this its third quarter revenues rose to $3.9 million from $3.6 million in the year-ago quarter, matching the consensus Wall Street estimate. Test revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30 grew to $3.7 million from $3.4 million, while contract revenues rose to $223,000 from $140,000. In a statement, the San Diego-based skin cancer testing firm noted that billable sample volume declined 13 percent year over year to about 15,710. It had a net loss of $19.2 million, or $.57 per share, for the recently completed quarter compared to a net loss of $28.8 million, or $.96 per share, a year ago. The consensus Wall Street estimate was a loss of $.76 per share. The firm's R&D spending narrowed to $3.6 million from $5.7 million a year ago, while its SG&A costs declined to $16.4 million from $23.4 million. DermTech exited the quarter with $37.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and $31.0 million in short-term marketable securities.
Bayer and the Broad Institute said this week that they have added five years to an ongoing research collaboration focused on developing treatments directed against new cancer targets. The precision oncology collaboration, which began in 2013, led to an EGFR/HER2 inhibitor that Bayer is currently evaluating in Phase I clinical trials for cancers harboring EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.