NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Invitae said this week that it has commenced an offer to exchange each outstanding Series F warrant to acquire one share of common stock of CombiMatrix for 0.3056 of a share of common stock of Invitae. The exchange offer will expire at 12:00 a.m. EDT on Nov. 13. In July, Invitae announced that it would acquire CombiMatrix as well as Good Start Genetics, enabling it to add reproductive health testing to its portfolio and fulfill its aim to become a comprehensive genomic information company.
Qiagen this week announced that its manufacturing and supply chain for consumables and other products for forensic and human identity testing has been certified by the Bureau Veritas inspection agency as meeting the latest international standards for products used in forensic testing. The Bureau Veritas certification represents a seal of approval that Qiagen complies with the latest standard, known as ISO18385:2016, adopted to prevent contamination of products for DNA casework and reference databases. The requirements cover the manufacturing of products used in the collection, storage, and analysis of human DNA during forensic testing, including sampling kits such as swabs, containers, and packaging, and consumables used in the analysis of DNA samples by forensic laboratories.
DiaSorin this week completed its acquisition of Siemens Healthineer's microtiter-based ELISA immunodiagnostic business portfolio and related assets. The deal was originally announced in July. The deal does not include the transfer of employees or the manufacturing facility and capability, DiaSorin said. Siemens will continue to manufacture and exclusively provide its ELISA immunodiagnostic reagent kits to DiaSorin for up to three years.
Clearbridge BioMedics announced this week that it has joined the CANCER-ID public-private international consortium on blood-based biomarkers. CANCER-ID currently has 38 partners from 14 countries. The company is the consortium’s first partner headquartered in Asia. Clearbridge BioMedics has developed the proprietary ClearCell FX System, which is a label-free, enrichment and isolation platform that retrieves intact, viable CTCs from a patient's blood sample. The technology enables processing of both CTCs and ctDNA from the same patient blood sample for subsequent analysis.
Lucigen this week struck another deal with Illumina covering the Epicentre line of products. Lucigen now has the rights to manufacture and sell the entire Epicentre portfolio of products, which includes genomic kits, enzymes, and ancillary reagents. The firms had previously inked a deal providing Lucigen rights to be the sole global distributor of the products.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Great Basin Scientific disclosed that it had received notice on Sept. 29 from the OTC Markets Group that due to the company's ongoing delinquency in the filing of its Form 10-Q, it would be moved from the OTCQB market to OTC Pink market. The company earlier disclosed in its Form 8-K that it would not be able to file its Form 10-Q by the Sept. 28 deadline to remain eligible for trading on the OTCQB market.
Irish food safety and traceability company IdentiGen announced this week that it has secured a contract in Switzerland to provide DNA-based traceability for all Swiss beef using its DNA-TraceBack system. The deal is estimated to be worth more than €17 million ($20 million) over five years. The service is being introduced this year for beef and veal and may be expanded to include pork and poultry, the company said. IdentiGen has established a new dedicated laboratory in Zurich and will be working with Proviande, which oversees the Swiss meat industry.
The European Commission this week approved the acquisition of Ambry Genetics by Konica Minolta. The $1 billion deal was announced in July. Upon its completion, Ambry will become a subsidiary of Konica Minolta, which plans to bring the genetic testing firm's technology to Japan and then to Europe. The deal had been expected to close in the third quarter.
Swift Biosciences announced this week that it is expanding its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and opening an office in the San Francisco Bay Area. These new facilities will enable Swift to expand its manufacturing capabilities, commercial partnerships, and sales and technical support resources, the company said.
Life Epigenetics, a subsidiary of GWG Holdings, announced this week that two major unnamed life insurance companies will begin pilot programs to test its epigenetic-based M-Panel technology. The pilots will explore how the M-Panel predictive epigenetic technology can be best applied to insurance products and services, the company said.
MDxHealth this week announced the opening of its new service and research laboratory at the Novio Tech Campus in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The firm said it has leased 700 square meters of mixed-use facilities, expanding its capacity and infrastructure to perform its SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer test, as well as ongoing research, development, and commercial activities.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.