Roche to acquire Genia Technologies for up to $350 million

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) said this morning that it plans to acquire Genia Technologies, a privately held company, based in California, USA, which is developing a single-molecule, semiconductor based, DNA sequencing platform using nanopore technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay Genia’s shareholders $125 million in cash. In addition, Genia’s shareholders may receive up to $225 million from Roche in contingent payments depending on the achievement of certain milestones. Genia’s proprietary technology is expected to reduce the price of sequencing while increasing speed and sensitivity, Roche noted.

“The acquisition of Genia is a further step for Roche to introduce a potentially disruptive technology to the market,” said Roland Diggelmann, chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics, adding: “The addition of Genia’s single molecule semiconductor DNA sequencing platform using nanopore technology strengthens our next generation sequencing pipeline.”