GE Healthcare to Acquire Cancer Diagnostics Company

GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK), a unit of General Electric Co. (Fairfield, CT, USA), and Clarient, Inc. (Aliso Viejo, CA, USA) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for GE Healthcare to acquire Clarient, a leading player in the fast-growing molecular diagnostics sector. Clarient's technologies, combined with GE Healthcare's strengths in diagnostic imaging, are expected to accelerate the development of new integrated tools for the diagnosis and characterization of cancer.

A subsidiary of GE will commence a tender offer for all outstanding common and preferred shares of Clarient at US$5.00 per common share and $20.00 per preferred share, in each case payable in cash.

Molecular diagnostics provide specific data about a patient's cancer and can help clinicians decide on the best treatment. The rapid increase in the incidence of cancer worldwide, combined with developments in specific cancer-focused therapies, is driving considerable demand for molecular diagnostics. The global demand for cancer-profiling products and services is predicted to grow from $15 billion in 2009 to an estimated $47 billion by 2015. Since 2005, Clarient's revenues have grown at a 68% compounded annual growth rate.

John Dineen, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, said, "GE Healthcare has built a world-class set of diagnostic, information and life science technologies. We are experiencing solid growth in the core business this year and we see that growth continuing into 2011. Adding Clarient's leading technology to our portfolio will accelerate our expansion into cancer diagnostics and therapy selection tools, while strongly enhancing our current diagnostic and life sciences offerings. We believe we can build a $1 billion-plus business by developing integrated diagnostic solutions for cancer and other diseases. GE and Clarient share a vision that through the integration of our diagnostic technologies we can help pathologists and oncologists make more confident clinical decisions, bring improvements in the quality of patient care, and lower the costs of disease management.”

Ron Andrews, CEO and vice chairman of Clarient, said, "The combination of Clarient's people, technologies, and services with the resources, brand value, technical capabilities, and global reach of GE Healthcare is a tremendous opportunity for the highly talented Clarient team. We will now have access to the resources we need to accelerate our development plans. We are proud of the progress we have made in bringing our molecular diagnostic technologies to market, and joining with GE Healthcare will allow us to realize our ambitious plans and actualize our goal of becoming one of the industry's most relevant companies in the management of cancer.”

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Andrews added, "We are very excited about becoming part of the GE Healthcare family, and we believe that the consideration being paid to Clarient stockholders appropriately reflects the value that we have built at Clarient. This is good news for our stockholders, for the healthcare community, and for patients.”

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