Gen-Probe Buys UK Diagnostics Company

Bruce V. Bigelow2/2/09

San Diego-based Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) says it’s buying Tepnel Life Sciences, a British medical diagnostics company, for about $132.2 million. Gen-Probe chairman and CEO Hank Nordoff says the buyout expands Gen-Probe’s focus on nucleic acid tests by adding Tepnel’s expertise in genetic tests for cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome and inherited levels of high cholesterol. Gen-Probe’s tests are used mostly to screen human blood donations and diagnose human diseases.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788