Agilent Agrees to Acquire Resolution Bioscience for $550 Million

(Bloomberg) -- Agilent Technologies Inc., a provider of electronic equipment and testing tools to health-care companies, has agreed to acquire Resolution Bioscience to build its diagnostic offerings related to cancer treatment.

Santa Clara, California-based Agilent will pay $550 million in cash and an extra $145 million if Resolution hits certain performance milestones. Resolution develops and commercializes next-generation sequencing, or NGS-based, precision oncology products.

“By adding Resolution Bioscience's liquid biopsy-based diagnostic technologies to our portfolio, we are strengthening our offering to our biopharma customers,” Agilent President and CEO Mike McMullen said in a statement. “This also accelerates our strategy to broaden access to precision oncology testing for patients worldwide through distributed NGS-based diagnostic kits.”

While the coronavirus has shifted public attention away from cancer and other diseases, drugmakers have continued to add oncology products to their pipelines. For example, Gilead Sciences Inc., which makes the Covid therapy remdesivir, struck a $21 billion deal to acquire cancer-drug maker Immunomedics last year.

Read more: Gilead Boosts Cancer Focus With $21 Billion Immunomedics Buy

Kirkland, Washington-based Resolution posted about $35 million in revenue in calendar 2020, a figure that's expected to climb as high as $55 million this year. The transaction, to close in April, may be slightly dilutive to Agilent's non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2021 and 2022, the company said.

Agilent has made a string of purchases in recent years, acquiring Seahorse Bioscience in 2015, Luxcel Biosciences in 2018 and Biotek Instruments in 2019. The company's shares have climbed 5% this year, giving it a market value of $38 billion.

Read more: Agilent Makes Immunotherapy Bet With $1.17 Billion Biotek Deal

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