Mobidiag has paired up with China’s Autobio Diagnostics to help launch its infectious disease assays in the country through a new joint venture.
In addition, Autobio made a separate €10 million ($11.3 million) equity investment in the Finnish molecular diagnostics company, which will fund the development of new assays for its Novodiag platform.
The Chinese joint venture will be supported by a total investment of €12.3 million ($13.9 million) between the two in vitro diagnostics companies—with Autobio controlling 65% with an €8 million investment and Mobidiag taking 35% with €4.3 million.
“In China, due to a lack of rapid, accurate and low cost diagnosis of pathogens, the timely and effective treatment of infectious diseases is limited and the misuse of antibiotics is not uncommon,” Autobio Chairman Yongjun Miao said in a statement. “Mobidiag’s Novodiag system is low cost, easy to operate, multi-target, and has a wide application and great market prospects.”
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The JV will work to register Mobidiag’s Novodiag platform with the Chinese government and hold exclusive licenses to three assays for detecting respiratory and gastroenteric infections and meningitis. It will also finance local facilities to manufacture some Novodiag components and disposables within the country.
“This deal epitomizes the current trend in cross-border transactions in the healthcare sectors between China and western countries,” said Donald Xu, managing partner of Lynx Financial, which served as Mobidiag’s financial adviser in the deal.
“The strategy of combining investment with joint venture will be the playbook for many upcoming and innovative companies to catapult their regulatory and commercialization process, and to compete against the entrenched [multinational corporations], not only in China market, but also the rest of the world,” Xu said.