Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) announced that it agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Curiosity Diagnostics.
Hercules, California-based Bio-Rad bought Curiosity Diagnostics from Scope Fluidics, a Warsaw, Poland-based developer of technologies for the medical diagnostic and healthcare markets, for a total consideration of up to $170 million.
The acquisition consists of approximately $100 million in cash, with up to $70 million in future milestone payments, according to a news release.
“We are excited to have the Curiosity Diagnostics team join Bio-Rad’s Clinical Diagnostics Group and to work closely together to bring a new generation of rapid PCR systems to market,” Dara Wright, Bio-Rad’s EVP and president, clinical diagnostics group, said in the release. “Curiosity’s PCR platform, PCR|ONE, offers a streamlined workflow and rapid turnaround times, and is expected to extend our reach beyond high-complexity labs into near-patient molecular diagnostics labs.”
Curiosity Diagnostics, a late-stage, pre-commercial platform company, is developing the PCR|One platform as a sample-to-answer, rapid diagnostics PCR system for the molecular diagnostics market.
“Our passion at Scope Fluidics is developing innovative technologies addressing the greatest challenges in global health,” Scope Fluidics President and co-founder Piotr Garstecki said. “The dedicated, entrepreneurial team of highly skilled, specialized personnel of Curiosity Diagnostics is looking forward to further developing the PCR|ONE technology under Bio-Rad’s leadership while we at Scope Fluidics continue to pursue new and current projects in disruptive medical diagnostics.”
