Roche to buy US firm BioVeris in $600M deal

In a second acquisition move within a week, Swiss drug major Roche says it plans to buy USA-based BioVeris for $21.50 per share in cash, or a total of around $600.0 million. Cash happy Roche, which is not in favor of mega-mergers or acquisitions and is aiming to improve its portfolio through a number of strategic purchases, earlier this month revealed that it had acquired US biotechnology firm Therapeutic Human Polycolonals, for a cash consideration of $56.6 million (Marketletter April 9).

The new transaction has been approved by both companies's boards and is expected to complete during the third quarter of this year.

This acquisition of BioVeris will allow Roche Diagnostics to expand its immunochemistry business from the human diagnostics field into new market segments such as life science research, life science development, patient self testing, veterinary testing, drug discovery, drug development and clinical trials. In buying the firm, Roche will own the complete patent estate of the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technology deployed in its Elecsys product line which gives its diagnostics unit the opportunity to fully exploit the entire immunochemistry market.