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Roche's End Run Into the Cervical Cancer Screening Market

The announcement of a merger between Digene, the maker of the only FDA-approved test for HPV, and Cytyc disappointed diagnostics giant Roche, Digene's European distributor. Roche had also contemplated a more strategic relationship with Digene. But it had a back-up plan. In June, it bought Institut Pasteur's HPV IP portfolio, which includes rights to some of Digene's markers. Now, Roche will go head to head with Digene in what may be one of the first significant battles between two molecular diagnostics platforms.

When Roche Molecular Systems Inc. (RMS, the molecular diagnostics division of Roche ), entered into an agreement last year with Digene Corp. to co-promote Digene's screening test for human papilloma virus [See Deal], it did so in contemplation of an eventual broader relationship with Digene. Indeed, the companies had already begun to explore the possibility of Roche acquiring Digene, which has a strong intellectual property portfolio of HPV markers and the only FDA-approved test for HPV—the cause of virtually all cervical cancer and a key women's health test. Adding HPV to its growing panel of molecular infectious disease tests was therefore an obvious goal for Roche.

Digene had other suitors, however, and in February 2002 it opted to merge with Cytyc Corp. [See Deal] (See...

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