Roche Buys Rest of Foundation Medicine

Swiss drugmaker Roche is paying $2.4 billion to acquire the rest of the shares it does not already own in US molecular and genomic analysis company Foundation Medicine (FMI).  The move is part of Roche’s drive toward offering personalized healthcare.

The company is paying $137 cash for each outstanding share, valuing FMI at $5.3 billion. In January 2015, Roche paid $50 per share, or $1 billion, for a 57% stake in the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company, which can identify the genetic profile of patients’ tumors and match that with targeted therapies.

“This is important to our personalized healthcare strategy as we believe molecular insights and the broad availability of high quality comprehensive genomic profiling are key enablers for the development of, and access to, new cancer treatments. We will preserve FMI’s autonomy while supporting them in accelerating their progress,” said Daniel O’Day, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals.

Stefan Schneider, an analyst with Swiss investment bank Vontobel, told Reuters news agency that the deal fits very well with Roche’s position as an early leader in matching treatment to genetic profiles. “This isn’t only an advantage for the patients, but also should allow Roche to have more effective and targeted drugs, which should improve drug development and ultimately pricing power,” he told Reuters.

Both boards have unanimously approved the merger, which is expected to close in the second half of this year.