Crescendo Bioscience, Myriad Genetics deal
Myriad Genetics will acquire molecular diagnostics company Crescendo for $245 million in cash and also will forgive a $25 million loan it made to Crescendo in 2011 in exchange for an option to acquire Crescendo. In November, Myriad disclosed in an SEC filing that it provided notice of its preliminary interest in exercising an option to acquire Crescendo, which markets Vectra D to quantify rheumatoid arthritis activity. The multi-biomarker blood test combines information from 12 serum biomarkers that have been shown to be associated with RA disease activity into a single quantitative score. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal. JPMorgan advised Myriad, which expects the deal to close this half (see BioCentury, Dec. 9, 2013). ...