TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES
A minor player in the molecular diagnostics market is making great strides to gain a larger piece of this industry segment by acquiring a diagnostics manufacturer and entering into an agreement with a top medical distribution company. These partnerships could bring about advance- ments in the multiplexing abilities available for current and pipeline molecular diagnostics.
Luminex Corp. (Austin, TX) has historically focused on the immunodiagostics and life science research arenas. The acquisition of Tm Bioscience Corp. (Toronto) is the result of Luminex’s strategy to target the rapidly growing molecular diagnostics market. Although Luminex has already partnered with leading names in the molecular diagnostics industry like Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL), Bayer HealthCare (Tarrytown, NY), and Digene Corp. (Gaithersburg, MD), its current market penetration is estimated to be less than 1%.
“Some of the most novel and promising molecular diagnostic technologies are coming from smaller players in the industry,” says Jeff Ellis, head of diagnostics mergers and acquisitions at Crosstree Capital Partners Inc. (Tampa, FL). “The Luminex/ Tm Bioscience deal strengthens Luminex’s future in molecular diagnostics while providing Tm with stronger financial resources.”
This acquisition was followed closely by an agreement between Luminex and Fisher HealthCare (Houston). This agreement underscores the aggressiveness with which Luminex is setting its sights on molecular diagnostics. “We developed a strategic plan where we identified six market segments that were particularly important to us, one of those being molecular diagnostics,” said Greg Gosch, vice president of sales and marketing at Luminex. “So we’ve evaluated the market potential there as it relates to multiplexing, which is our expertise. Molecular diagnostics was one of the most attractive markets, both short and long term.”
By partnering with these two companies in a two-month span, Luminex has delivered a clear message of its intentions to gain control of a portion of the molecular diagnostics market. In addition, Luminex has identified multiplexing capabilities as an unmet need in molecular diagnostics and aims at using its back- ground in multiplexing to expand this aspect of the market. “One of the key trends in the market overall, which is driving our growth, is the end-users’ need for multiplexing,” said Patrick J. Balthrop, chief executive officer of Luminex, in a conference call.
“The molecular diagnostics market, which until recently has not had a compelling need for multiplexing, has that need, as well as being the largest and fastest-growing segment where we compete.”
