Roche to Purchase GenMark Diagnostics in $1.8 Billion Deal

Roche has entered a definitive agreement to acquire GenMark Diagnostics, a molecular diagnostics maker based in Carlsbad, Calif., for $1.8 billion.

GenMark offers respiratory pathogen panels that identify the most common viral and bacterial organisms associated with upper respiratory infection, including SARS-CoV-2. It received FDA Emergency Use Authorization in October 2020 and a CE mark in September 2020 for a rapid molecular panel that detects more than 20 respiratory pathogens, including the coronavirus.

The transaction is expected to become final in the second quarter of the year, after which GenMark will continue to operate at its Carlsbad headquarters.