BRANFORD, Conn., May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- 454 Life Sciences announced today the completion of its acquisition by Roche Holdings, Inc. 454 Life Sciences, with its 167 employees, will remain in Branford, Connecticut as a member of the Roche Diagnostics organization.
“Now that 454 Life Science is part of Roche, we are prepared to further strengthen our sequencing business and to provide cutting edge sequencing technology to the worldwide research community,” said Manfred Baier, Head of Roche Applied Sciences.
“Our merger with Roche brings added resources to the research and development and manufacturing activities in our Branford facilities, both of which are expected to expand as we see increasing demand for our sequencing products and services,” said Christopher McLeod, President of 454 Life Sciences. “Our customers can expect continued development of 454 Sequencing(TM) technology from this exciting business combination.”
454 Life Sciences was founded in 2000 as a majority-owned subsidiary of CuraGen Corporation, with the mission of developing affordable, high- throughput DNA sequencing. 454 Life Sciences and Roche have been operating under a research and marketing collaboration established in May 2005 under which Roche Diagnostics has acted as the exclusive worldwide distributor of the Genome Sequencer(TM) systems and associated reagents. In March 2007, 454 Life Sciences and Roche signed a definitive merger agreement under which Roche would acquire 100% of 454 Life Sciences Corporation.
About 454 Life Sciences
454 Life Sciences, part of Roche Applied Science, a division of Roche Diagnostics, develops and commercializes novel instrumentation for high- throughput DNA sequencing. Specific applications include whole-genome sequencing, RNA analysis and ultra-deep sequencing of target genes. The hallmarks of 454 Sequencing(TM) are its simple, unbiased sample preparation and massively parallel sequencing, which makes large-scale scientific projects feasible and more affordable. 454 Sequencing(TM) and the Genome Sequencer 20 System won The Wall Street Journal’s top Innovation Award in 2005 and received an R&D 100 Editor’s Choice Award as one of the most technologically significant products in 2006. For additional information, please visit http://www.454.com.
About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Roche’s Diagnostics Division offers a uniquely broad product portfolio and supplies a wide array of innovative testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide. For further information, please visit our website www.roche.com.
Russo Partners, LLC Benjamin Carmichael + 212-845-4242 benjamin.carmichael@russopartnersllc.com
454 Life Sciences
CONTACT: Benjamin Carmichael of Russo Partners, LLC, +1-212-845-4242,benjamin.carmichael@russopartnersllc.com
Web site: http://www.454.com/http://www.roche.com/
