Minneapolis, MN 7/1/16; Minneapolis, MN 7/6/16—Bio-Techne has acquired two companies. On July 6, the company announced the purchase of Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) for $250 million in cash plus an additional $75 million based on attaining certain milestones. ACD provides consumables for genomic analysis for research and diagnostic applications. Its products include the RNAscope RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) technology for the detection of RNA molecules in single cells. Offering over 9,000 probe reagents and kits, ACD’s 12-month revenues grew 50% to $25 million. “RNA-ISH is a transformative technology facilitating and improving the monitoring of gene expression patterns at the single-cell level—while retaining the morphological context of the tissue being analyzed,” stated Bio-Techne President and CEO Charles R. Kummeth. Earlier in the month, Bio-Techne purchased Italian distributor Space Import-Export. Space Managing Director Luca Cicchetti will remain with the company, and Bio-Techne named Gary Stapleton as vice president of Europe.

Advantages of RNAscope technology include high specificity and sensitivity, measurement of tissue morphology and RNA detection in the same assay, and use with any gene in any tissue. RNAscope research applications include single-cell analysis, and biomarker discovery and validation. Clinical applications include pathology and companion diagnostics. The company’s partners include Leica Biosystems. In October 2015, ACD announced there were over 300 peer-reviewed publications using RNAScope.