Based in San Diego, California, Agena is engaged in the development, manufacturing and supplying of sensitive, low-cost and high-throughput, genetic analysis solutions to clinical labs and development partners across the globe

genetic test

Agena CEO Peter Dansky will join Mesa to manage the new clinical genomics division. (Credit: PublicDomainPictures/Pixabay)

Mesa Laboratories has agreed to acquire US-based molecular diagnostics tools company Agena Bioscience for a cash purchase price of $300m.

The company aims to finance the all-cash transaction with a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from the company’s credit facility.

Based in San Diego, California, Agena is involved in the development, manufacturing and supplying of sensitive, low-cost and high-throughput, genetic analysis solutions to clinical labs and development partners across the globe.

Mesa president and CEO Gary Owens said: “Agena brings an innovative approach to the challenges of clinical genomics. Their MassArray system is a proven platform which integrates the best of mass spectroscopy and multiplex PCR; providing a unique combination of sensitivity, cost effectiveness, fast turnaround time, ease of use, and flexibility.”

Agena offers MassARRAY System, which is an open platform that holds the potential to expand across multiple applications and consolidate the molecular menu to a single workflow.

It also provides MassARRAY Dx multiplex genetic analyser designed to simplify the complex clinical genetics environment with easy-to-interpret data, flexible biomarker detection and better performance.

Agena CEO Peter Dansky will join Mesa to manage the new clinical genomics division.

In a statement, Dansky said: “We are proud of our track record in bringing the power of genomics to the clinical setting in hereditary diseases, pharmacogenomics, oncology, infectious disease and sample integrity testing.”

Subject to customary conditions including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to be completed in Mesa’s third fiscal quarter ending this December.

Jefferies served as the exclusive financial advisor and DLA Piper acted as legal advisors to Agena in connection with the transaction. Davis Graham and Stubbs served as legal advisor to Mesa.

Mesa is engaged in the designing and manufacturing of critical quality control solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical device industries.