Beckman Coulter last week said it would acquire Dako’s research flow cytometry instrumentation business in a transaction that a Beckman official said is scheduled to close by the end of the year.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Karen Bezold, director of flow cytometry marketing for Beckman Coulter, told CBA News last week that included in the deal is Dako’s flow cytometry hardware, which includes the MoFlo XDP cell sorter and the CyAn flow cytometer and all related software.
Also included is Dako’s worldwide install base for the technologies.
Beckman “had gaps in [its] portfolio at the high end of the research flow cytometry instrumentation area and the sorting product area,” and Dako’s products and capabilities “really complement the strengths that [Beckman] already had in other product areas,” Bezold said.
According to Bezold, the nine-color CyAn flow cytometer has about a 3-percent market share, and unit placements grew about 30 percent in 2006. The MoFlo XDP cell sorter has 50 percent of the high-end sorter market and about 15 percent of the overall sorter market.
Bezold described the MoFlo as “the gold standard for research sorters with the highest sort speed in the market: 70,000 events per second.”
She said that investigators who use the MoFlo platform to isolate certain cell populations from blood, for example, could then use Beckman Coulter equipment to perform additional testing on either that entire cell population or a subpopulation.
By selling its flow cytometry business, Dako is now free to focus on its core business in anatomic pathology and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, Dako CFO Leif Nørgaard told CBA News last week via e-mail.
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“The products and capabilities that [Dako] brings to the table really complement the strengths that [Beckman] already had in other product areas.” |
Beckman “intends to blend” with its workforce Dako’s flow cytometry group, which comprises almost 200 people including sales, manufacturing, marketing, research, and administrative personnel, she said.
Bezold said that Beckman has assembled a transition team “comprising a number of people from a variety of disciplines within both companies.” She said that the team will be able to announce its transition plan by the end of this year or early next year.
Before announcing the Dako deal, Beckman commanded 25 percent of the overall flow cytometry market, which Beckman views as a key growth opportunity, Bezold said.
Dako estimates that the global flow-cytometry market is approximately $1 billion, of which research represents approximately 30 percent, and clinical or clinical research represents approximately 70 percent, said Nørgaard.
Bezold added that the market, including research and clinical applications, is growing approximately 10 percent per year.
Nørgaard said that approximately 40 percent of each market segment is related to instrument sales and 60 percent is related to reagents and other consumables.
Beckman has always been very strong in the clinical market, said Bezold. “With this acquisition, [Beckman] sees an accelerated growth for its business in the research side as well.