Thermo Fisher to buy Qiagen for $11.5bn

Biotech Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced plans to acquire Dutch diagnostics group Qiagen for $11.5 billion.

Thermo Fisher said yesterday, March 3, that the buy would expand its specialty diagnostics portfolio, notably in infectious disease testing.

Qiagen is developing kits to test for COVID-19 and, last week, shipped its newly developed test kit to four hospitals in China for evaluation. The Dutch company has previously provided testing equipment used during past health crises such as SARS and the swine flu.

Marc Casper, chairman, president and CEO of Thermo Fisher, said: “This acquisition provides us with the opportunity to leverage our industry-leading capabilities and research and development expertise to accelerate innovation and address emerging healthcare needs.”

Employing more approximately 5,100 people at 35 locations in more than 25 countries, Qiagen generated $1.53 billion in revenue in 2019.

Qiagen’s sample preparation technologies are used to extract, isolate and purify DNA, RNA and proteins. The company's assay technologies are then used to amplify and enrich these biomolecules to make them readily accessible for analysis.

Thierry Bernard, interim CEO of Qiagen and senior vice president, head of the molecular diagnostics business area, said: “This strategic step with Thermo Fisher will enable us to enter a promising new era and will give our employees the opportunity to have an even greater impact.”

Last November, Qiagen announced that it had started to review its options, after receiving several conditional, non-binding indications of interest for the acquisition of the company.

But, one month later, Qiagen said it had decided its best opportunity was to remain a standalone business.

In March last year, Thermo Fisher revealed plans to acquire Brammer Bio, a viral vector manufacturer for gene and cell therapies, for $1.7 billion. The deal expanded Thermo Fisher’s reach into gene therapy, an area of increasing focus for the company’s customers.

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