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Going with the flow
October 2011
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
SEATTLE—In an effort to strengthen its bioscience business,
EMD Millipore, the life science division of
Merck KGaA of Germany, has acquired
Amnis Corp., a cell-imaging instrumentation maker based here.
Financial terms of the deal have not been released. The
transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and closing
is expected to take
place in the fourth quarter.
According to Steffen Grimminger, director of Communication
Strategy & Governance for EMD
Millipore, the acquisition will help EMD
Millipore to execute upon its strategy to build a powerful systems biology
platform.
"Currently, there are no solutions available that enable customers
to directly link the outputs of flow and image
analysis," he says.
"Specifically, confirming flow data with image analysis, linking
multi-parameter flow data with protein localization via imaging
and connecting
cell characteristics such as morphology to protein expression. All of these are
significant unmet needs that we have validated through
extensive market
analysis and voice of customer through our rigorous strategic planning
process."
Jonathan DiVincenzo, head of the Bioscience business unit within
EMD Millipore, says the acquisition of Amnis significantly contributes to the
company's strategy to be a leader in cellular analysis and systems biology.
"Amnis' technology
will put EMD Millipore at the forefront
of cell analysis by providing us access to breakthrough, combined imaging flow
cytometry, addressing several
unmet needs in the field of cell analysis and
systems biology," he says. "Today, there are no comparable alternatives that
enable our customers to
combine flow cytometry and image analysis in one
integrated solution. With this acquisition, EMD Millipore becomes the only
provider of this
technology."
This is the second acquisition for EMD Millipore this year.
In March, Merck
acquired the microbiology business of Biotest AG of Germany and
added it to the operations of EMD Millipore, to boost its business in hygiene
monitoring and ready-to-use media products for contamination detection.
Grimminger says both EMD
Millipore and its parent company
Merck KGaA have a long-term view when considering acquisitions.
"It
is kind of hard to measure success when a technology
that was created by a company of 40 people gets integrated into an organization
with 40,000
employees," he says. "Having said that, it will be truly rewarding
for EMD Millipore to be the only provider of the flow and image analysis
technology going forward."
Amnis has had an interesting path to date. The company spun
out of
the University of Washington in 1998. It makes an imaging device that
provides detailed images of large numbers of cells, potentially enabling
researchers to detect trace amounts of cancer in a blood sample, or determine
whether a drug will hit a particular protein target. The company's
customers
include academic researchers and big drugmakers.
According to David Basiji, CEO of
Amnis, the main reason
behind his company's decision to sell was to accelerate the growth of its
technology.
"We're comfortably profitable, and our business has grown at
an 80 percent compounded annual rate since 2005," he says,
"but with the
addition of the lower price/higher volume FlowSight product, plus three
clinical applications in development, we now have far more to do
than we can
fund organically."
Amnis generated sales of $14 million in 2010.
Basiji also points out that Amnis' technology is highly
complementary to EMD Millipore's existing flow
cytometry-related products and
capabilities, both from an instrumentation and application perspective.
"It's too early to talk about specific strategic moves, but
I think we have all the ingredients in place to become a major player in all
aspects
of cellular analysis and systems biology," he says. "This will help us
to drive the penetration of Amnis' technology, not only with our combined
customer base, but also in adjacent fields and markets of cell analysis where
we see a huge potential. We expect Millipore will both accelerate our
existing
projects as well as allow us to broaden into areas we've wanted to go, but
haven't been able to pursue due to resource constraints."
Amnis, which currently has 40 employees, will remain in
Seattle with its existing staff and
management, according to Basiji. Code: E101109 Back |
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