Myriad Genetics to acquire diagnostic company Crescendo

Myriad Genetics has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire inflammatory and autoimmune diagnostics company Crescendo Bioscience for $270 million.

The transaction is due to close by the end of Myriad’s fiscal year 2014 and depends on regulatory approval.

Under terms of the agreement, Crescendo will keep its name and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics.

In a statement on its website, Myriad said that it sees the deal as a “major growth opportunity”, and that the acquisition will complement its current disease focus which currently includes products in oncology, women's health, urology and dermatology.

It said that Crescendo’s core product Vectra DA, which tests for rheumatoid arthritis disease activity in patients, represents a $3 billion global market opportunity – more than 1.5 million people in the US suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

“Crescendo Bioscience fits well into our diagnostic portfolio that is focused on saving lives and improving the quality of life of patients across major diseases,” said Myriad chief executive and president Peter Meldrum.

“Crescendo has pioneered protein-based diagnostics for monitoring disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and this acquisition diversifies our business into a new high growth, multibillion dollar market opportunity. We are pleased to welcome the 130 employees of Crescendo to the Myriad team and look forward to the impact of this innovative and dedicated group on our organisation.”

President and chief executive of Crescendo William Hagstrom said: “Crescendo has built a strong and growing position in the rheumatoid arthritis diagnostic market, and I believe Myriad will enable us to move to the next level in terms of scale and growth.

“We envision multiple opportunities over the next several years where, as a combined company, we can expand our presence into international markets and provide new innovative products that help improve the lives of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases.”

A spokesperson for Myriad told LSIPR: “At this time, we have publicly disclosed that Crescendo is pursuing a broad intellectual property strategy with patent filings on its testing methods and biomarker algorithms that when issued will extend into the 2030s.”