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Originally Published IVD Technology July/August 2005
INDUSTRY NEWS
Beckman bolsters
molecular diagnostics
presence
Matt Grebow
 |
Attracted by the opportunity to offer more-integrated biomedical and diagnostic systems and also by a desire to better position itself as the personalized medicine market takes shape, Beckman Coulter Inc. (Fullerton, CA) has acquired Agencourt Bioscience (Beverly, MA) for approximately $100 million. If the company achieves certain revenue and operating-income targets, it could receive an additional $40 million in contingent payments through 2007. Under the terms of the deal, which closed on May 31, Agencourt has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Beckman. In 2004, Agencourt posted approximately $27 million in sales.
At the center of the purchase is Agencourt’s proprietary solid-phase reversible immobilization (SPRI) technology, which uses magnetic microparticles to isolate and purify nucleic acids. In acquiring exclusive rights to Agencourt’s line of SPRI reagents, Beckman has made no secret of its intent to market its automated platform as an all-in-one liquid-handling system. “Agencourt fits our need to expand our nucleic acid testing sample prep capability, giving Beckman Coulter a total solution for nucleic acid testing,” says Bruce Wallace, vice president of Beckman Coulter’s Nucleic Acid Business Center. “It also fits with our strategy of building a consumables business for our Biomedical Research Division and is central to our strategy to simplify and automate customer processes.”
In many respects, the acquisition seems a natural progression for both companies. Agencourt’s SPRI technology is already in wide use by Beckman’s customers, and Beckman’s Biomek FX liquid-handling system serves as the standard robotic platform in Agencourt’s customer sequencing facility. “As part of Beckman Coulter, we will be much better positioned to serve biotech, pharma, government, and academic labs,” says Brian McKernan, CEO of Agencourt.
According to Scott Garrett, Beckman Coulter president and CEO, the acquisition also fits the company’s strategy to pursue growth in a wide range of areas. “We are one company positioned to serve the entire continuum of biomedical testing, and we expect to
continue to excel within our current markets and to vigorously pursue new and faster-growing market segments to further enhance our success,” he said in announcing the company’s first-quarter
2005 results. At the time, the company said it expected full-year sales to grow between 7 and 9%. Other projections were that clinical diagnostics sales would increase between 8 and 10%, biomedical research sales would grow between 5 and 7%, and operating-income margin would total approximately 1.4% of sales during the same period.
Beckman’s goal of pursuing expansion, and especially of bolstering its presence in the molecular diagnostics market, would also help explain why Agencourt proved such an attractive target. The purchase agreement includes the spin-off of a subsidiary, Agencourt Personal Genomics Inc. (APGI), which is based on low-cost human-genome sequencing technology that Agencourt has licensed from Harvard University. Beckman will own 49% of the entity and will contribute $6 million to the venture through the end of 2007. In addition, Beckman will retain rights to license and distribute technologies developed by APGI. “Beckman will use Agencourt’s sample prep technologies as a foundation to become a major player in molecular testing,” says Wallace, “and we will leverage existing Agencourt and Beckman pharma relationships to identify potential theranostic products.”
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