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General Electric announced Friday that its healthcare unit will acquire molecular diagnostics company Clarient in a deal worth approximately $580 million. The deal will allow GE Healthcare to accelerate its development of new tools to diagnose and characterize cancer.

Clarient’s Board of Directors has approved the transaction and unanimously recommended that Clarient shareholders tender their stock. GE plans to commence a tender offer of $5 per common share for Clarient stock, a 34 percent premium over the stock’s closing price on Thursday, and $20 per share for preferred stock. Safeguard Scientifics, a holding company that owns 26 percent of Clarient, is expected to receive $145 million as a result of the deal. The acquisition is subject to certain conditions and is expected to close in late 2010 or early 2011.

Based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Clarient provides molecular testing services for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry.  Its tests are designed to guide physicians in determining the most effective treatment plan for their patients. The company launched its Insight Dx breast cancer test in May of last year. The test determines the probability of a relapse and classifies patients as high- or low-risk. Clarient also markets tests for prostate, colorectal, lung and other cancers.

According to a September 2010 report by BCC Research, the global demand for cancer-profiling products and services is projected to grow from $15 billion in 2009 to an estimated $47 billion by 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6 percent. Clarient‘s revenues have grown at a 68 percent CAGR since 2005, reaching $91.6 million in 2009.

Clarient acquired Huntsville, Ala.-based Applied Genomics in December 2009. The deal gave Clarient access to AGI’s pipeline of diagnostic and prognostic tests, including the Clarient Insight Dx Pulmotype test for determining tumor type in patients with non-small cell lung cancer:



Clarient has been a member of OneMedPlace for several years and presented at the OneMedForum SF 2010:





For years, OneMedPlace has produced investor/management videos for Clarient to support their business development efforts. In this video, Clarient CEO Ron A. Andrews and Chief Scientific Officer Douglas T. Ross discuss the new taxane biomarker they have developed, and how it affects the company moving forward.