Abcam, a manufacturer of life science reagents and diagnostic tools, has bolstered its magnetics analysis portfolio with the recent acquisition of the proteomics and immunology business of Expedeon, based in Germany. Abcam paid €120 million in cash for the deal, which also included Expedeon companies Innova Biosciences and TGR Biosciences.
The deal brings under one roof Abcam’s magnetic beads and analysis kits with the magnetic conjugation kit and antibody purification system from Expedeon, along with an array of other product lines. Abcam CEO Alan Hirzel said acquiring the German biotechnology company adds its product and technology portfolio to Abcam’s antibody research and tools. Abcam is based in Cambridge, England and has operations worldwide.
“Abcam’s growth strategy is committed to building out conjugation and assay capabilities. Expedeon’s portfolio of products and technology, combined with Abcam’s antibody and protein strengths, will put our company in a strong position to address the growing need for antibody conjugation and multiplexing solutions.”
A key focus of the expansion strategy has been extension of antibody conjugation and labelling capabilities to address industry demand for conjugation-ready solutions. Protein labelling is a large, growing market that is essential to biological research in proteomics and central to many research efforts focused on the battle against Covid-19.
Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins which are vital parts of living organisms and have many functions. Proteomics research requires the use of molecular labels that are covalently attached to a protein of interest to facilitate detection or purification of the protein or its binding partners. Expedeon conjugation kits included over 50 types of labels for applications across the life science industry.
“Our reputation as an innovator in the field of biological reagents, coupled with our dedicated global commercialization infrastructure, will allow us to make these technologies readily available globally,” noted Dr John Baker, senior vice president of product portfolio and innovation at Abcam. “We have had teams working on conjugation for several years and the combination of this expertise with the Expedeon portfolio and other complementary conjugation technologies provides a very powerful platform to enable us to deliver the precision research tools required to address the majority of life science assays used today and those emerging in the future.“
For more info, see www.abcam.com.
