BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Surviving the MDx challenge

June 18, 2007 7:00 AM UTC

Molecular diagnostics companies have demonstrated robust growth in the last few years and as a result two of the four leading companies are being acquired. As with therapeutic companies, the question is whether as any of the leading entrepreneurial MDx companies reaches critical mass, it will be acquired.

Earlier this month, Digene Corp. (DIGE, Gaithersburg, Md.) announced a $1.6 billion merger with Qiagen N.V. (FSE:QIA; QGEN, Venlo, the Netherlands), the European sample and assay technologies company. The deal comes hot on the heels of a $1.6 billion offer for Biosite Inc. (BSTE, San Diego, Calif.) by Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. (IMA, Waltham, Mass.), following a protracted bidding war that involved eight suitors...