By Donald Zuhn --
On June 3, 2007, QIAGEN N.V. and Digene Corp. announced that the two companies would be combining to form a molecular diagnostics company worth approximately US$16.6 billion. The merger agreement calls for QIAGEN to acquire all of Digene's stock for a combination of cash and QIAGEN common stock, with Digene becoming a subsidiary of QIAGEN.
QIAGEN considers itself to be the world's leading provider of sample and assay technologies for biological targets such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, offering the world's broadest portfolio of molecular diagnostic tests. Digene's primary product, the Digene® HPV Test, screens for the presence of high-risk types of human papillomavirus, which has been shown to be the causative agent in 70% of cervical cancer cases. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women (after breast cancer), and is responsible for 250,000 deaths a year.
QIAGEN and Digene anticipate that the combined company will have over US$350 million of molecular diagnostics revenues and more than US$800 million in revenues overall in 2008. In explaining the rationale for the merger, which is expected to be completed by the end of September, QIAGEN CEO Peer M. Schatz noted that the deal "combines QIAGEN's leading technology portfolio and our breadth of molecular diagnostic tests with Digene's leadership in what is seen as the fastest-growing segment of molecular diagnostics."
The merger will bring together QIAGEN's patent portfolio of at least 59 U.S. patents and 19 U.S. published applications and Digene's patent portfolio of approximately 18 U.S. patents.
For additional information regarding the merger, please see:
- QIAGEN's press release
- Digene's press release
- Bloomberg.com report
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