NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Diagnostics firm Iris International announced after the close of the market Tuesday that it has agreed to buy AlliedPath, an early-stage, high-complexity CLIA-certified laboratory, for up to $6 million.
Iris will pay $4.7 million in cash and an earn-out of up to $1.3 million subject to certain sales and earnings targets being reached during the next three years. The deal is expected to close by July 30.
Founded in 2008 and based in San Diego, AlliedPath specializes in oncology and molecular diagnostics. It received its CLIA license in 2009. The laboratory is 10,000 square feet.
In addition to providing Iris with a CLIA-certified lab offering "differentiated, high value molecular diagnostic services" in the personalized medicine space, the acquisition provides it with a "direct commercial channel" for acceleration of Iris' NADiA nucleic acid detection immunoassay platform, Cesar Garcia, chairman and CEO of Iris, said in a statement.
The first of the NADiA tests is its ProsVue prostate cancer prognostic test for identifying patients at low risk of cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy, he added. The test is pending clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The deal will offer Iris "more control over the commercialization of ProsVue, including sales, marketing, and communications programs and value-based pricing strategies," the company said.
Iris said that it expects the deal to be dilutive in 2010 and 2011. In 2010, the company anticipates the acquisition to be dilutive $0.09 to $0.11 per share.
AlliedPath currently offers molecular mutation testing for solid tumors, including lung and colorectal cancer, and expects to add breast cancer testing before the end of the year. Iris plans to expand AlliedPath's test menu to complement NADiA and provide a broader menu of diagnostic panels for the diagnosis, disease characterization, treatment, and monitoring of cancer. It also hopes to add flow cytometry for detecting and monitoring leukemia and lymphoma and to add fluorescent in situ hybridization testing, Iris said.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Vance White will be appointed corporate vice president at Iris and president of the new Iris Laboratory division. White was most recently CEO of Adnavance Technologies. Prior to that, he held the same position at Nanogen and Xenomics.
Also, AlliedPath CEO Philip Ginsburg will become corporate vice president and chief medical officer of Iris. Robin Vedova, president of AlliedPath, will join Iris as vice president of administration of Iris Laboratory.