Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Novacyt Raises €7.8M to Complete Primerdesign Acquisition

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."

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.