Roche NimbleGen to Shed Product Lines; Roche Denies New Illumina Bid
Asked why Roche has chosen to exit the microarray business, Ms. Schmitt told IBO: “Our goal is to become the number-one or number-two player in all business segments where we choose to compete and be more profitable. To achieve this, we need to focus our resources in specific growth opportunities.” The company also plans to consolidate its sequence capture technology with its sequencing portfolio in a Sequencing Solutions unit. Roche NimbleGen’s sequence capture solutions utilize NimbleGen’s microarray technology. Roche acquired NimbleGen Systems in 2007 for $272.5 million (see IBO 6/30/07).
Madison, WI 6/1/12; Aarau, Switzerland 6/10/12—Following a report in the Wisconsin State Journal, Roche has confirmed with IBO that it plans to eliminate product lines and lay off employees at Roche NimbleGen, a provider of DNA microarray technology. “Our Microarray portfolio will be streamlined and focused on our Sequence Capture products. All other microarray products will be phased out at the end of 2012,” said Claudia Schmitt of Roche Media Relations. “The NimbleGen/Microarray business will focus on developing best-in-class sequence capture solutions. Sequence capture development will continue to be led out of Madison, along with a streamlined manufacturing facility that will be co-located in Madison, to rapidly launch and deliver an expanded and best-in-class sequence capture portfolio.” According to the newspaper, the layoffs include 44 employees at the Wisconsin headquarters. Roche confirmed that production sites in Reykjavík, Iceland, and Waldkraiburg, Germany, will be closed, affecting about 75 positions. The restructuring is expected to be completed by year end. Separately, according to reports by several news sources, Roche CEO Severin Schwan has told Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag that the company does not plan to renew its offer to acquire Illumina (see IBO 4/30/12).
