Veracyte, Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., has reached the terms of an agreement to acquire HalioDx, Marseille, France, in a transaction to further accelerate growth and strengthen Veracyte’s global leadership in cancer diagnostics.

“The acquisition of HalioDx will further enable our long-term growth by providing key strategic capabilities to help us to execute on our powerful vision of improving outcomes for patients all over the world at every step of their journey,” says Bonnie Anderson, Veracyte’s executive chairwoman. “Our prior strategic acquisitions brought exclusive global access to a best-in-class diagnostic platform and a significantly expanded cancer testing menu. We believe HalioDx will help fuel our global growth by accelerating IVD test development and manufacturing operations in Europe and by expanding our scientific expertise into the emerging immuno-oncology field. Additionally, their commercial-stage colon cancer immune response test will broaden our testing menu to 8 of the top 10 cancers.”

HalioDx is an immuno-oncology diagnostics company providing oncologists and drug development organizations with diagnostic products and services to guide cancer care and contribute to precision medicine. The company provides a unique range of immune assessment solutions, including its flagship Immunoscore assay for assessing the immune contexture of a tumor as a key determinant of patients’ outcomes and response to cancer treatments. HalioDx has developed a unique biopharma partnering ecosystem for the identification of clinically relevant biomarker signatures, the demonstration of their utility in clinical trials and the development and commercialization of resulting IVD and companion diagnostic tests. The company operates CLIA-certified laboratories in the United States and France, as well as a manufacturing facility in France that develops, manufactures, and distributes in vitro diagnostic clinical products. 

According to the company, this acquisition provides the following benefits to Veracyte:

  • Enables Veracyte to develop and manufacture test kits for the nCounter diagnostic platform. The company plans to transition manufacturing of the kits, currently produced by NanoString, to HalioDx’s manufacturing facility in Marseille, France. This would further accelerate the expansion of test menu on the nCounter platform in Europe and other strategic global markets.
  • Deepens Veracyte’s scientific capabilities. HalioDx’s unique Immunogram multimodal analysis platform offers potential pipeline development opportunities in a range of clinical indications and can serve as a platform to grow Veracyte’s biopharma partnering business. HalioDx’s deep expertise in immuno-oncology complements Veracyte’s expertise in cancer genomics and large biorepository of genomic content built from whole transcriptome data.
  • Expands Veracyte’s cancer diagnostics scope to 8 of the 10 top cancers by U.S. incidence. The addition of HalioDx’s Immunoscore test to guide treatment decisions in colorectal cancer will further expand Veracyte’s menu of high-value advanced diagnostic tests that address unmet needs at multiple points in the patient care continuum.

The transaction is expected to close in the third fiscal quarter of 2021. HalioDx’s operations and laboratories will remain in Marseille, France and Richmond, Va.