Beckman Coulter to acquire Agencourt Bioscience

Fullerton, CA – Beckman Coulter says it is planning to acquire Agencourt Bioscience of Beverly, MA. Agencourt provides genomic services and develops nucleic acid purification products in the biomedical research market. Terms of the agreement include a payment at closing of US$100 million and up to $40 million of contingent payments through 2007.

Agencourt’s solid phase reversible immobilization technology provides state-of-the-art results for the isolation and purification of RNA and DNA. The technology is used with Beckman Coulter’s automated liquid handling systems in Agencourt’s genomic services business. The copmany says it was also used to prepare sequencing samples for more than one third of the human genome. Beckman Coulter says it lans to use it in automated sample preparation systems for biomedical research and molecular testing.

“Agencourt will become a Beckman Coulter center of excellence for nucleic acid science,” says Elias Caro, president of the Biomedical Research Division of Beckman Coulter. “This acquisition brings talented scientists and a services business that will give us a real-time window into evolving customer needs.”

“As part of Beckman Coulter, we will be much better positioned to serve biotech, pharmaceutical, government and academic laboratories,” says Brian McKernan, Agencourt’s CEO. “Our products and services have clearly demonstrated value in accelerating research and development projects. Agencourt is one of five National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)-funded Large-Scale Sequencing Centers whose goal is to sequence genomes of high biomedical importance.”