The Conversation (0)
Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) strengthens its microbiology unit with the acquisition of US-based in vitro diagnostics company GeneWEAVE BioSciences for $425 million.
Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) strengthens its microbiology unit with the acquisition of US-based in vitro diagnostics company GeneWEAVE BioSciences for $425 million.
According to an article on Fierce Biotech:
The pharma giant has snagged GeneWeave Biosciences, which is based in Los Gatos, CA. GeneWeave developed what it calls Smarticles tech, which can analyze Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and determine which antibiotic available is most likely to shut it down. That’s a particularly important tool in light of a wave of drug-resistant bacteria that’s taken a stubborn hold around the world. And GeneWeave boasts that its tech works on the spot in a matter of hours, short-circuiting the decision-making process in hospitals.
Just a few weeks ago GeneWeave lined up a $12 million Series B from Decheng Capital and two existing investors–Claremont Creek Ventures and XSeed Capital.
Strategically, Roche rarely does any kind of development work without a diagnostics angle to pursue. The Basel-based research group, pRED, has been inking a slate of smaller antibiotic deals, looking to reenter a field it left back in the ’90s, as Big Pharma bowed out of a market known for thin margins. John Reed, who runs pRED, has expressed a keen interest in developing antibiotics that can be used in a hospital setting.