Neither side disclosed financial terms, though U.K.-based Lab21 explained why it was selling the operation: It is "a loss-making business" for the company after three years of work trying to make it viable.
Lab21 CFO Susan Lowther explained in a statement that the company will continue to focus on personalized medicine, as well as diagnostics-related business opportunities within the U.S. market.
Those "opportunities" include a deal signed in late 2012 with Becton Dickinson ($BDX) to develop PCR-based cancer tests for BD's Max diagnostic platform. The initial two targets envisioned for the tests involve screening for both the KRAS and BRAF genes--mutations that can indicate lung, colorectal and a number of other cancers. This expands a relationship initially forged between the two companies to develop a diagnostic assay to detect the Aspirgillus fungus.
In June, Lab21 also signed an agreement with an unnamed Big Pharma company giving it the task of developing and jointly marketing a companion diagnostic designed to detect specific mutations in colorectal cancer samples, and the test would go with the company's therapeutic monoclonal antibody. Previous partnership deals include agreements with Amgen ($AMGN) and AstraZeneca ($AZN).
- read the release
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