Thermo Fisher to Acquire Phadia for $3.5 Billion

Cinven (London, UK), a private equity firm, will sell Swedish diagnostics maker Phadia (Uppsala) to Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) for US$3.52 billion in cash. Phadia will become part of Thermo Fisher's specialty diagnostics business within its analytical technologies segment.

With Phadia, Thermo Fisher will strengthen its diagnostic products for allergies and autoimmune disorders. Part of Phadia's research efforts are focused on developing tests that can identify sensitivity to a large variety of allergies. The company develops, manufactures, and markets complete blood-test systems to support the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy and autoimmune diseases. Phadia operates through two leading brands: ImmunoCAP for allergy tests and EliA for autoimmunity tests.

Allergy testing is high-growth market, with in vitro allergy testing growing 9% a year globally. About one in five people in North America and Europe suffers from allergies. The in vitro allergy testing market has significant untapped potential for growth, particularly in the United States, where there is low prevalence of allergy testing today.

Autoimmunity is also a growing segment of healthcare, with more than 100 million people worldwide suffering from autoimmune disorders, including celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and connective tissue diseases.

"The acquisition of Phadia is a major step forward in our strategy to enhance Thermo Fisher's global presence in specialty diagnostics, one of our key growth platforms," said Marc N. Casper, president and CEO of Thermo Fisher. "From a market perspective, Phadia has significant growth opportunities in the large, underpenetrated US market, and can leverage our strong presence in emerging geographies to further accelerate growth."

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