NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Qiagen today said that it will transfer distribution rights for the Olerup line of molecular transplantation testing products to LinkMed subsidiary Olerup International on July 1.
The testing products included in the agreement are used for DNA HLA typing. The transfer of assets will include all Olerup SSP HLA sales infrastructure and offices in Austria.
Qiagen said that it will retain the rights to Olerup assays for applications outside of transplantation testing. However, the firm also said that it intends to increase its focus on higher-growth applications in transplantation testing, such as sequencing-based typing, and on assays for personalized medicine.
Among the testing products to which Qiagen will retain rights is an assay that types the HLA-B*5701 allele, which is an assay that assesses the risk of AIDS patients for severe adverse reactions to HIV drug abacavir (Ziagen). Qiagen also said that it has retained an option to distribute future Olerup SSP assays for pharmacogenetic applications.
Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz said in a statement that the deal will enable Qiagen to streamline its portfolio.
The firm said that the transaction is expected to reduce its revenues in the second half of 2009 by roughly $10 million, but it won't impact the firm's expected adjusted earnings per share for full year 2009, nor future expected earnings.