Acquisition Reinforces Abcam’s Growth Plans

Abcam’s announcement in January of a definitive agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Firefly BioWorks Inc on a cash-free/debt-free basis for £18.5m ($28.0m), puts the company on track to meet its strategic plans announced in September for establishing new growth platforms for its kits and assays.

Firefly has developed a novel multiplex assay platform for the detection of biomarkers, based on a microfabrication technology developed by the founders at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has developed its first product for detection of microRNAs (miRNAs). Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company has 15 employees.

Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam commented: "The acquisition of Firefly represents a compelling strategic fit for Abcam, expanding our Kits and Assays business into the new areas where life science researchers tell us they have the greatest needs. RNA is one of the hottest areas in science for our consumers and we are excited about the scientific and commercial potential in what is a new product area for Abcam.

We are also delighted to be working with our new colleagues at Firefly to offer researchers access to a novel technology that will enable them to assess the role of miRNA in a broad range of areas including epigenetics and cancer biomarker discovery, as well as generally across biological research. We also look forward to combining it with our RabMAb technology to bring new products to market over the forthcoming years."

Davide Marini, CEO of Firefly commented: "Firefly was founded upon the vision of integrating bioinformatics with intelligent assays and has great cultural similarities with Abcam. Our combined companies have a tremendous opportunity to develop novel assay products which will accelerate the pace of scientific discovery."