Roche's Ventana Acquires BioImagene

Roche Holding... said it will buy closely held BioImagene for $100 million, helping the Swiss drug company to extend its diagnostics business (see: Roche to Buy BioImagene, U.S. Diagnostics Firm). As part of the deal, Roche's unit Ventana Medical System Inc. will acquire 100% of the California-based company, which specializes in tissue-based cancer diagnostics and research. The U.S. company makes digital images from glass microscope slides that can be processed with computers, thus helping researchers and doctors save costs and time....The takeover is part of Roche's efforts to boost activities in personalized medicine, whereby companies develop diagnostic tests to help determine which therapy is the best for a patient....Efforts in the realm of diagnostics should also give pharmaceutical companies a better understanding of the molecular structure of diseases, enabling them to develop new ways to produce drugs.