Bruker Acquires Majority Stake in MDx Firm Hain

Bruker said recently it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in infectious disease molecular diagnostics firm Hain Lifescience.According to Bruker, Nehren, Germany-based Hain will add capabilities in tuberculosis and mycobacteria testing, as well as virology and human genetics.

Hain projects 2018 revenues of $38 million and is currently profitable, Bruker said. Bruker plans to acquire an 80 percent interest in Hain, with an option for the remaining 20 percent that can be exercised after 2021. The acquisition is expected to close in Q4 2018. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Among Hain's product are its GenoType assays for tuberculosis detection, for sexually transmitted disease testing, and for HIV viral load testing. Hain is particularly well known in the field of MDx testing for tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections. The availability of the kit of Hain depends on the country-specific diagnostics, and most MDx tests of Hain use the CE-IVD label. According to the microbiology and diagnostics program in Bruker project's accelerated portfolio transformation, the planned acquisition of Hain will expand Bruker's position in the infectious disease and molecular diagnostics markets.

The company has also developed a real-time PCR system, called Fluorocycler XT, which has a novel assay format for its Liquid Array-branded syndromic panels. It plans to launch its first Liquid Array assay, FluoroType MTBDR 2.0, a CE-IVD marked test for detecting M. tuberculosis and drug resistances against rifampicin and isoniazid, by the end of the year.