PacBio gets $50M investment from Gen-Probe

Pacific Biosciences--a company that's never had any trouble raising money--has received a $50 million investment from molecular diagnostics firm Gen-Probe. The funding is part of a larger Series F private round of financing. The two companies will explore development of a clinical diagnostics systems using PacBio's Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT) platform and Gen-Probe's expertise in diagnostics. PacBio's SMRT platform will be able to sequence a whole genome in five to 30...

Test maker’s shares soar on GSK cancer pact

Shares of diagnostic test maker Response Genetics (RGDX) spiked 51 percent on the news that pharma powerhouse GlaxoSmithKline had inked a non-exclusive deal covering the rights to its technology to assess BRAF gene mutations in tumor samples. The BRAF gene encodes B-Raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine-protein kinase, a protein involved in cell signaling and cellular growth and differentiation. Specific genetic mutations have been correlated with the development of certain forms of cancer....

ExonHit buys RedPath in $32M diagnostics play

France's ExonHit Therapeutics has established a new beachhead in the U.S. molecular diagnostics market with its newly announced deal to buy Pittsburgh-based RedPath Integrated Pathology for $22.5 million in cash and stock plus $9.5 million in sales milestones. RedPath CEO Mark Myslinski says the buyout will pump fresh funds into the company, which sells a molecular diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer. Myslinski is poised to become the expanded company's chief of global molecular...