- Invitae, a leading medical genetics company, recently announced the acquisition of Singular Bio
- These are the details about the deal
Leading medical genetics company Invitae Corporation recently announced it entered a definitive agreement to buy Singular Bio, a privately held company that is developing single molecule detection technology to enable lower costs and the expanded use of high-quality and cell-free nucleic acid analysis initially for application in non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS).
“Since we began, Invitae has invested deeply to harness the power of the most advanced genetic testing technologies in order to deliver expert-level genetic information at scale, and bringing this company into Invitae is the next step in that process,” said Invitae co-founder and CEO Sean George, PhD. “Singular Bio is building an approach to non-invasive prenatal screening with the potential to achieve the cost savings necessary to provide more women with genetic information to support a healthy pregnancy. We believe this approach could eventually be applied to other areas of genetic testing. The addition of Singular Bio’s technology will further strengthen our ability to bring genetic information into mainstream medical care.”
Invitae has a mission to bring comprehensive genetic information into medical practice to improve the quality of healthcare for the billions. And as the utility of genetic information expands especially in pregnancy and reproductive health, the demand for high-quality and affordable testing grows with it. NIPS is conducted in early pregnancy for detecting chromosomal abnormalities and assessing the health of the fetus via a simple blood test.
“By joining together with Invitae, we believe our technology can help make routine non-invasive prenatal screening widely available,” added Singular Bio president and CEO Hywel Jones, PhD. “We are excited that Invitae shares our drive to provide advanced molecular tests at affordable prices, thereby improving care for all patients.” Singular Bio was founded by Jones and Kalim Mir.
Invitae launched the NIPS services earlier this year and recently announced reduced patient-pay pricing of $99 in order to improve access to testing for the six million pregnancies in the US every year. These tests have been known to be expensive historically thus only gets offered to women in certain elevated risk groups.
“Singular Bio is developing technology consistent with Invitae’s mission of providing the highest quality genetic information at disruptive price points,” explained Eric Olivares, PhD — the head of research and development at Invitae. “We are excited to partner in an effort to deliver further cost reductions that allow more patients to benefit from essential health information.”
Invitae is bringing down the cost of testing to increase the number of women who can benefit from the use of NIPS testing in early pregnancy through technology investments including developments by Singular Bio.
Singular Bio’s platform was built specifically to meet the needs of high-volume screening in very large populations. And Singular Bio’s technology combines advanced optics with custom chemistry and molecular biology to expand access to high-quality and affordable genetic analysis.
As part of the deal, Invitae will acquire Singular Bio for approximately $55 million subject to certain adjustments mostly in stock with the balance in cash. And such amount takes into account Singular Bio’s estimated cash balance of approximately $5 million at closing. Plus Invitae will also be granting stock awards for up to $90 million to employees of Singular Bio who will continue post-acquisition with Invitae. These awards will vest based in part on their continued service and the achievement of certain milestones.
This acquisition is expected to close in the next few weeks subject to customary closing conditions. Invitae is expecting that the transaction will be cash neutral at close and has already factored in the additional operating expense of this acquisition in prior statements about expected 2019 cash burn.
Prior to the acquisition, Singular Bio had received funding from investors such as Civilization Ventures and The Vertical Group.
“We are excited to have supported Singular Bio and its visionary founders at a critical stage of their development as they pursued their mission to expand access to high-quality genetic testing through their breakthrough platform,” Civilization Ventures founder and general partner Shahram Seyedin-Noor commented.
