Thermo Fisher Scientific is buying Swedish allergy and autoimmunity diagnostics firm Phadia from private equity firm Cinven for €2.47 billion (about $3.5 billion). The deal comes just 24 hours after Thermo announced it was taking over U.K.-based disposable labware firm Sterilin.
Thermo claims acquisition of Phadia will boost its global presence in specialty diagnostics, “one of our key growth platforms,” remarks Marc N. Casper, president and CEO. The firm says it will exploit Phadia’s clinical marketing model to sell its own specialty biomarker assays and other diagnostics, while Phadia will benefit from Thermo’s marketing capabilities in the U.S. and emerging markets. “This transaction will provide Thermo Fisher with leading allergy and autoimmunity diagnostic testing technologies that expand our specialty diagnostics offerings,” Casper adds. “From a market perspective, Phadia has significant growth opportunities in the large, under-penetrated U.S. market, and can leverage our strong presence in emerging geographies to further accelerate growth.”
Founded in 1967, Phadia claims to be the global leader for in vitro allergy diagnostics and a leading European player in the field of autoimmunity diagnostics. The firm’s two brands are its ImmunoCAP® allergy product family and EliA™ autoimmunity tests. The ImmunoCAP allergy and asthma assay portfolio covers a range of tests for specific food, microorganism, insect, furred animal, food, and venom allergies, as well as assays for the markers ECP and for tryptase. EliA assays are available for over 20 autoimmune diseases. Phadia made total sales of €367 million (roughly $525 million) in 2010, representing a 10% compound annual growth rate on a constant currency basis.