NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Cancer and infectious disease diagnostics manufacturer Novacyt announced today that it has raised €7.75 million ($8.73 million) to complete its acquisition of Primerdesign, a UK real-time PCR company. The firms anticipate closing the deal in mid-May.
Primerdesign's product portfolio includes more than 450 qPCR test kits and reagents, as well as a recently-launched real-time PCR platform called genesig. The firm quickly developed an Ebola test during the 2014 outbreak, and its Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus test was recently evaluated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Novacyt, meanwhile, recently launched a cervical cancer testing service using its NovaPrep cytology platform, which it began marketing in China last year. It has also been validating the Abbott RealTime High Risk HPV assay for use in this business.
"Our investors recognize the strategic rationale of combining Primerdesign's non-clinical molecular diagnostic products with Novacyt's regulatory and sales infrastructure," Graham Mullis, group CEO of Novacyt, said in a statement. "This combination will accelerate the development and sales of new approved diagnostic products."