Genetic Testing Equipment Company Qiagen To Acquire HPV Test Maker Digene For $1.6B

Gaithersburg, Md.-based biotechnology company Digene, which produces a human papillomavirus test, on Sunday announced that it will sell itself to Netherlands-based Qiagen, maker of genetic testing equipment, for about $1.6 billion in cash and stock, the Washington Post reports (Rosenwald, Washington Post, 6/4).

FDA in March 2003 approved Digene's DNA Pap test -- which combines the traditional Pap test with a DNA test for 13 strains of HPV -- as a primary screening tool for cervical cancer for women ages 30 and older. Digene's test is 99% accurate at identifying changes in cervical cells, compared with an 80% accuracy rate for the Pap test (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/26).

Qiagen currently manufactures more than 100 diagnostic tests that are used to search for DNA and protein cues that aid in diagnosing diseases. Qiagen also co-developed and manufactures Digene's Rapid Capture System, which allows labs to run Digene's HPV, chlamydia and gonorrhea tests on one technology platform, the Baltimore Sun reports (Bishop, Baltimore Sun, 6/4).

According to the Post, Digene has been attempting to expand internationally. Digene CEO Daryl Faulkner said that in terms of international expansion, the deal with Qiagen "gets us there faster than doing it alone" (Washington Post, 6/4). He added that the deal allows Digene to grow both domestically and abroad faster. The combined companies will be called Qiagen, and current Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz will remain CEO. Faulkner will co-chair an integration committee, but his role beyond the committee is unclear, Reuters reports.

Both companies "are on a major mission here to help fight, or maybe even eradicate, a disease that kills a woman every two minutes," Schatz said, adding, "The ability to test and amount of testing still has a huge runway to grow" (Flaherty/James, Reuters, 6/3).

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