Invitae Corporation, a leading medical genetics company, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Singular Bio, Inc., a privately held company developing single molecule detection technology that enables lower costs and expanded use of high-quality, cell-free, nucleic acid analysis, initially for application in non-invasive prenatal screening.
“Since we began, Invitae has invested deeply to harness the power of the most advanced genetic testing technologies in order to deliver expert-level genetic information at scale, and bringing this company into Invitae is the next step in that process,” said Sean George, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Invitae. “Singular Bio is building an approach to non-invasive prenatal screening with the potential to achieve the cost savings necessary to provide more women with genetic information to support a healthy pregnancy. We believe this approach could eventually be applied to other areas of genetic testing. The addition of Singular Bio’s technology will further strengthen our ability to bring genetic information into mainstream medical care.”
Supporting Wider Availability of Screening in Early Pregnancy
As the utility of genetic information expands, particularly in pregnancy and reproductive health, demand for high-quality and highly affordable testing grows with it. NIPS is conducted in early pregnancy to detect chromosomal abnormalities and assess the health of the fetus via a simple blood test.
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Invitae introduced its NIPS services earlier this year and recently announced reduced patient-pay pricing of $99 to improve access to testing for the six million pregnancies in the United States each year. Historically, these tests have been expensive, and therefore offered only to women in certain elevated risk groups. By investing in technologies, including those developed by Singular Bio, Invitae is driving down the cost of testing to increase the number of women who can benefit from the use of NIPS testing in early pregnancy.
“By joining together with Invitae, we believe our technology can help make routine non-invasive prenatal screening widely available,” said Hywel B. Jones, PhD, chief executive officer of Singular Bio. “We are excited that Invitae shares our drive to provide advanced molecular tests at affordable prices, thereby improving care for all patients.”
Singular Bio’s platform was designed and built specifically to meet the needs of high-volume screening in very large populations. Singular Bio’s technology combines advanced optics with custom chemistry and molecular biology to expand access to high-quality, affordable genetic analysis.
“Singular Bio is developing technology consistent with Invitae’s mission of providing the highest quality genetic information at disruptive price points,” said Eric Olivares, PhD, head of research and development at Invitae. “We are excited to partner in an effort to deliver further cost reductions that allow more patients to benefit from essential health information.”
Under the definitive agreement, Invitae will acquire Singular Bio for approximately $55 million, subject to certain adjustments, mostly in stock with the balance in cash. Such amount takes into account Singular Bio’s estimated cash balance of approximately $5 million at closing. Invitae will also be granting stock awards for up to $90 million to employees of Singular Bio who will continue post-acquisition with Invitae. Such awards will vest based in part on their continued service and the achievement of certain milestones. The acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to customary closing conditions. Invitae expects that the transaction will be cash neutral at close and has already factored in the additional operating expense of this acquisition in prior statements about expected 2019 cash burn.
Date: June 24, 2019
Source: Cision
