Life buys bioinformatics company to boost Dx development

Life Technologies ($LIFE) is snapping up Compendia Bioscience for an undisclosed sum, looking to bolster its oncology diagnostics business with Compendia's bioinformatics data.

Compendia's cloud-based analytics tool, Oncomine, catalogs mutation profiles, gene expression data and cellular biomarkers culled from more than 62,000 cancer patients, and Life says the tool will prove invaluable in the development of oncological diagnostics and companion assays for pharmaceutical partners. Furthermore, Life inherits all of Compendia's existing pharma clients.

The acquisition is the capstone on Life's of-late genomic buying spree, completing the foundation of its cancer strategy, the company said. "We have created the optimal foundation to drive progress in personalized medicine," CEO Gregory Lucier said in a statement. "By combining the acquisitions of Pinpoint Genomics, Navigenics and Compendia, we now possess the full-spectrum capability to develop and commercialize high-value cancer diagnostics where there is currently great unmet need."

Compendia's capabilities will bolster Life's commercial diagnostics, the company said, but will also pay in spades for companion diagnostics. Life says it can now offer best-in-class services for target discovery, biomarker analysis and clinical implementation, ideally making it an attractive partner for pharmas developing targeted therapies. 

Life has already attracted some Big Pharma attention for its Dx offerings, as Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) tapped the company for a companion diagnostics partnership last month, looking to develop tests for the BMS's cancer pipeline.

Life says the Compendia buy will be earnings neutral this year and accretive by 2015.

- read Life's statement
- check FierceBiotech IT's take