NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BioReference Laboratories said today that it will acquire certain assets of Edge Biosystems, a reagents and sequencing services company.
As part of the agreement, BioReference's subsidiary GeneDx will acquire EdgeBio's genetic sequencing service business, Edge BioServ, which provides sequencing services in a CLIA certified laboratory. EdgeBio will retain its products business, a company official told GenomeWeb Daily News.
GeneDx is a clinical diagnostic sequencing laboratory that offers gene panel tests and exome testing services. The acquisition of the Edge BioServ business will include sequencing equipment, and the company said that it would provide the opportunity for GeneDx to expand its services and provide additional testing platforms operating in a CLIA-certified environment.
EdgeBio received CLIA certification last year and currently offers clinical exome sequencing. Additionally, the company has a suite of next-generation sequencing platforms, including Illumina's HiSeq 2000 and MiSeq, as well as Life Technologies' Ion Torrent PGM and Ion Proton.
EdgeBio CEO Dean Gaalaas will assume the role of COO at GeneDx, and the acquisition will also bring a number of R&D personnel from EdgeBio to GeneDx.
"Our GeneDx genetics laboratory is growing rapidly in a very sophisticated and complex area of laboratory medicine and we believe the Edge BioServ acquisition will enable us to have instant expandability for that growth," Marc Grodman, CEO of BioReference Laboratories, said in a statement.
"We have new lines of specialty work being developed, including our upcoming inherited cancers and tumor sequencing programs that we believe will be in great demand. The Edge BioServ acquisition is expected to enable us to seamlessly meet those demands," he added.