The flexibility of the technology will allow BD to expand beyond infectious disease-related offerings.
BD is taking over HandyLab for its molecular diagnostic assays and automation platforms. BD plans to place its infectious disease-related tests on HandyLab’s platform. It will also leverage the firm’s instrumentation for further expansion into the molecular diagnostic arena.
The acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. Earlier this year BD and HandyLab entered an exclusive development and distribution agreement. The deal gave BD rights to commercialize its molecular assays on an automated molecular diagnostic testing platform in development using HandyLab’s Jaguar instrument.
“HandyLab has developed and commercialized a flexible automated platform for performing molecular diagnostics that is an ideal complement to our molecular diagnostics offerings,” says Vincent A. Forlenza, BD president.
Released by HandyLab in November 2008, the Jaguar system is an integrated benchtop molecular diagnostic system to provide hands-off operation. The system incorporates clinical sample preparation, nucleic acid extraction, as well as microfluidic real-time PCR amplification and detection. The self workstation is designed to accommodate on-demand and batch workflows. It generates up to 24 real-time PCR results in under two hours.
“We believe this new platform enables both our healthcare-associated infections offering and future expansion into other molecular opportunities,” Forlenza continues. BD plans to place its BD GeneOhm™ molecular assays for MRSA, Clostridium difficile, and Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus onto the Jaguar platform and market them as the new BD MAX™ system.
