Ignyta acquires Actagene Oncology and entry into cancer personalized medicine

Privately-held US biotechnology company, Ignyta, which engages in catalyzing personalized medicine in autoimmune diseases, says it has acquired Actagene Oncology, effective May 20. Actagene was a San Diego-based privately held biotechnology company founded in February 2013 that was developing personalized medicines for high unmet need cancer indications, based on cancer genome mining and sequencing. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With the acquisition, Ignyta has evolved its business strategy from a sole focus on molecular diagnostics for autoimmune disease to an integrated “Rx/Dx” focus on drug and biomarker discovery and development for cancer and immunology. Patrick O’Connor, chief executive of Actagene Oncology, has joined Ignyta as chief scientific officer and senior vice president, head of research. His contributions to the field of oncology include over 100 publications and patents and over 20 compounds brought into development, including the recently approved anticancer drugs Xalkori (crizotinib) and Inlyta (axitinib), discovered at Pfizer where Dr O’Connor served as the global research therapeutic area head for oncology.

Takes Ignyta into area of unmet need