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Roche Buys Lumora's Nucleic Acid Purification Technology

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – In yet another deal to build up its technology portfolio, Roche today announced a definitive asset purchase agreement for Lumora's sample prep technology for sequencing. 

Roche is purchasing Lumora's products associated with its heat elution technology for nucleic acid purification. The technology can be used for multiple sample types, such as formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples, and Roche said that it plans to integrate the technology into its sequencing workflow solution. 

The technology is for research use only. 

Lumora's technology enables automated nucleic acid isolation from FFPE in minutes, as opposed to hours with other technologies, Roche said. The technology can also be used with whole blood, fecal matter, sputum, and buccal swabs. 

In a statement, Lumora CEO Laurence Tisi called nucleic acid extraction an "important bottleneck in [the] sequencing workflow. Heat elution technology significantly simplifies extraction and is simple to automate. The acquisition of this technology may offer Roche a unique position in fully integrated sequencing devices." 

Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The deal is the latest in a recent string of transactions by Roche to build up its technology capabilities. Last week, it announced an agreement to buy molecular biology enzyme firm Kapa Biosystems. Earlier in the month, Roche also agreed to buy clinical diagnostics firm GeneWeave for as much as $425 million; and in the spring, it acquired CAPP Medical, which specializes in next-generation sequencing-based analysis of circulating tumor DNA for cancer screening and monitoring.

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