NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Finnish firms Mobidiag and Amplidiag and French company Genewave today announced their merger, forming a new entity focused on developing molecular diagnostics targeting infectious diseases.
The new company, which is retaining the Mobidiag name, combines Mobidiag and Amplidiag's high multiplex diagnostic test portfolios and Genewave's automated and integrated test platform.
The deal took effect as a share exchange, and Genewave and Amplidiag now are subsidiaries of Mobidiag, headquartered in Helsinki with a center of excellence in Paris. Other terms were not disclosed.
Mobidiag in its former identity developed tests that enabled the detection of up to 84 pathogens and antibiotic resistance biomarkers in a single assay. Tests in development now are aimed at the diagnosis of bacterial and fungal sepsis, as well as nervous system and joint infections.
Amplidiag also developed diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, and its IP covers testing and nucleic acid extraction methods for contagious gastrointestinal diseases and other serious ailments. Genewave has developed microarray instrumentation for diagnostic, clinical, and life science research.
A financing round was raised in conjunction with the merger. Mobidiag did not disclose the amount raised, but said that participants included existing investors Helsinki University Fund, iXLife, Tutor Invest (Medtech Rahasto), and others. Finnish funding agencies Tekes and Finnvera, as well as the European Union, also provided funding.
Tuomas Tenkanen joined Mobidiag as its CEO. He is the former R&D director of Finnzymes, which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2010.
As a result of the merger, Mobidiag said it now has "the diagnostic test pipeline, integrated test platform, leadership, infrastructure, and financial resources to develop and bring to commercialization its automated instrument and panel of diagnostic tests capable of identifying a large number of pathogens from a single patient sample."