瑞士药企罗氏今日表示，将出价3.5亿美元收购一家私有企业GeniaTechnologies，其中包括里程碑付款(milestonepayment)。Genia正在开发一个DNA测序平台。
罗氏周一发布声明称，将向Genia股东支付1.25亿美元现金，此外根据特定里程碑最多还可能支付2.25亿美元。
罗氏诊断部门首席运营官RolandDiggelmann在声明中称：“拥有Genia利用纳米孔技术的单分子半导体DNA测序平台后，我们的下一代测序产品将得到增强”。
罗氏欲借收购Genia进一步扩大基因测序市场份额
http://www.nbd.com.cn
2014-06-04 08:33
来源: 每经网
每经记者 孙宇婷
基因测序业近期成为市场投资热点，不仅在国内，海外市场相关个股表现也是可圈可点，
加州大学伯克利分校生物方向一在读博士曾向《每日经济新闻》记者表示，“基因组测序可以说是2000年以后，生物学最重大的历史性革命。”
目前，这股生物学热潮也吸引到众多知名公司加入这场革命中来，记者留意到，瑞士制药商罗氏控股公司周一（6月2日）发布声明称，愿意以至多3.5亿美元的出价购买总部位于美国的基因测序企业Genia技术公司，以期获得更低成本破译人类基因的技术。
“拥有Genia利用纳米孔技术的单分子半导体DNA测序平台后，我们的下一代测序产品将得到增强。”罗氏诊断部门首席运营官罗兰-迪吉尔曼（RolandDiggelmann）在周一的声明中称。
《每日经济新闻》记者了解到，基因测序平台通常需要依靠昂贵的光学传感器，而Genia技术公司正在开发的技术仅使用成本较低的，被广泛使用在手机和电脑中的电子半导体元件来测量电流变化，从而确认DNA的序列。
罗氏方面表示，这种技术有望将基因测序成本大幅降低，同时提高测序速度和灵敏度。
根据协议，Genia技术公司的股东将获得1.25亿美元现金和至多2.25亿美元的或然付款承诺，后者将根据特定技术开发目标的达成而确认支付。
最近几年，罗氏在基因测序市场的份额有所下降，但面对这股势不可挡的革命性热潮，该公司从2014年初就表达了对购买新技术以强化其诊断业务的强烈兴趣。
罗氏诊断业务首席运营官罗兰-迪吉尔曼称，“对Genia技术公司的收购将是罗氏在市场引入可能具有颠覆性的新技术的又一步。”
申银万国报告显示，从主要公司来看，全球四大基因测序公司是Illumina、被赛默飞公司收购的生命技术公司（LifeTechnologies）、罗氏、安捷伦技术（Agilent），合计占全球市场份额的41%。而在美国基因测序市场，当前呈三足鼎立格局，Illumina一家独大，市场份额超过六成，生命技术公司占三成，罗氏占5%左右，其他公司仅占2%。
据研究机构BCC今年2月的测算，全球的基因测序产品到2018年预计将达到117亿美元。从组成部分来看，全球基因测序市场的增长点从基因测序仪转到基因测序服务，而中国由于发展相对滞后，未来几年的增长点还在于基因测序仪和配套设备的研发和销售。
Roche acquires DNA sequencing firm for
up to $350 mln
ZURICH
(Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche said it was buying privately held U.S.
gene-sequencing firm Genia Technologies for up to $350 million (209 million
pounds), securing access to a technology that should allow it to decipher human
genes more quickly at a cheaper cost.
Gene sequencing is vital to the
development and use of new medicines by allowing researchers and physicians to
better understand the human genome.
Under the deal announced on Monday, Genia's
shareholders will receive $125 million in cash and up to $225 million in
contingent payments depending on certain milestones, Roche said in a statement.
Dan Zabrowski, head of Roche's
sequencing unit, said the new technology had the potential to be more accurate,
faster and less expensive than existing systems.
Most systems currently on the market
make copies of DNA in order to generate enough coherent data to be read by the
sequencing platform, he said, comparing this technique to making thousands of
copies of a book.
"Some of the words would come
through better than others and potentially some of the sentences or words would
be fragmented," he said. "At the end you have to take those thousand
copies and use a lot of informatics analysis to be able to assemble the book
and read it."
Instead, Genia's technology is based
on the measurement of single DNA molecules reducing the amount of errors and
information, he said.
Analysts at Helvea welcomed the deal.
"The company has managed with
this acquisition to put its foot in the door of the so-called next generation
sequencing," they wrote in a note, adding the smaller scale and lower
costs should lead to a broader usage of the new technology than previously
envisaged.
Other sequencing platforms also rely
on expensive optical sensors, but Genia uses cheap electronic semiconductors,
the same as those used in cell phones and computers, to measure changes in
electrical currents and identify DNA sequences.
Zabrowski said Roche was still on the
lookout for external partnering opportunities in sequencing as well as
developing its offering in-house.
In 2012, Roche abandoned an attempt to
buy gene-sequencing company Illumina for
$6.7 billion after the U.S. firm's shareholders held out for a higher price.
Roche shares were up 1.9 percent at
3.43 p.m. BST, outperforming a slightly firmer European healthcare index
<.SXDP>, helped also by positive drug data released at a big cancer
conference in the U.S. over the weekend.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and Caroline Copley; Editing by Jane Baird and
Sophie Walker)
网址来源：Yahoo!7 News.
[此贴子已经被作者于2014-6-4 14:19:16编辑过]