CLEVELAND, Ohio — Predictive Biosciences Inc., the Lexington, Mass., company that is commercializing biomarker and other non-invasive diagnostics for cancer management, has acquired OncoDiagnostic Laboratory Inc. in Cleveland for undisclosed terms.
The acquisition of OncoDiagnostic Laboratory, a privately owned, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act — certified pathology and molecular diagnostics lab, gives Predictive Biosciences an established commercial operation that could speed up the launch of its assays for improved cancer management, Predictive said in a press release.
Predictive plans to start selling its first assay — a urine biomarker test to detect bladder cancer — during 2010.
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Founded in 1985 by Dr. Cirilo F. Galang and other pathologists, OncoDiagnostic Laboratory (ODL) has developed a subspecialty for providing cancer pathology services to hundreds of urology practices nationwide. Galang, who also is president of OncoDiagnostic Laboratory, is a former medical director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland.
“In light of ODL’s established national sales presence, its accomplished team of pathologists, history of innovation and consistent high marks for quality and customer service, we could not imagine a better, more mission-aligned partner to proceed with,” said Peter Klemm, president and chief executive officer for Predictive, in the release.
Predictive plans to use that sales force to introduce its bladder cancer assay later this year, Klemm said.
While OncoDiagnostic Laboratory has the commercial platform and sales force, it only recently introduced diagnostic and prognostic molecular tests for cancer. Predictive Biosciences could lend its expertise in non-invasive tests — those that do not require invasive procedures like biopsies — to broaden OncoDiagnostic’s disciplines.
OncoDiagnostic Laboratory and its 40 employees are expected to stay in downtown Cleveland. “ODL has long been one of the most innovative providers of anatomic pathology services, and we feel we have found a like-minded partner in Predictive,” Joseph Galang, the company’s chief executive and son of founder Cirilo Galang, said in the release. “We are very enthusiastic about this merger and the pioneering work that Predictive is doing to improve the diagnostic tools available to physicians.”
ODL’s pathologists, in collaboration with the late Dr. Donald Gleason, developed the Gleason grading of prostate cancer using the fine needle aspiration technique. ODL also developed OncoFix II, a fixative that enables dual histological and cytological examination of prostate biopsies.
Predictive Biosciences was co-founded in 2006 by Anthony P. Shuber, who has more than two decades of research, development and commercialization experience in diagnostics and applied genomics. Shuber, who is chief technology officer for Predictive, most recently spearheaded at Exact Sciences the development of DNA-based molecular technologies used in commercial cancer screening.
In October 2008, Predictive Biosciences raised nearly $22 million in a Series B financing round led by New Enterprise Associates, a global health care and technology venture capital firm. Kaiser Permanente Ventures, an investment arm of the Kaiser Permanente health care system, Flybridge Capital Partners and Highland Capital Partners also participated in the Series B fund-raise.
