Activiomics, a life sciences firm spun out from Queen Mary University of London, has been acquired by virology research company Retroscreen Virology Group for £4m ($6.7m).
Retroscreeen, itself a spin-out from Queen Mary incorporated in 1988, is also issuing up to £4m in new ordinary shares at 5p per share to support the deal.
The acquisition is part of a strategy to build Retroscreen’s testing and data analytical capabilities, supported by a £25.5m venture round last year. The UK-based firm will add a technology for identifying protein biomarkers from Activiomics, which in turn will increase Retroscreen’s capacity to build robust bioscientific databases.
Commercialisation firm the IP Group is set to benefit from the acquisition after participating in a venture round for Activiomics, worth $805,000, back in 2011.
Kym Denny, Retroscreen CEO, said: “This technology acquisition is a vital step on our journey to unlock the tremendous potential within our proprietary biological samples to gain new insights into key diseases including flu, [human rhinoviruses] and [respiratory syncytial virus]. It will also allow us to accelerate our drive to explore other disease areas including asthma and COPD.”