BUSINESS NEWS

In mid-July, an unsolicited $3 billion takeover bid by Roche Holding (Basel, Switzerland) was rejected by the board of Ventana Medical Systems (Tucson, AZ), which said the bid undervalues the company's current standing and market potential. Following Ventana's rebuff, Roche reported that it intends to pursue the transaction, whether through negotiations or unilaterally.

Abbott (Abbott Park, IL) and General Electric Co. (Fairfield, CT) announced in July that the companies have agreed to terminate their contract for the sale of Abbott's core laboratory and point-of-care diagnostics businesses to GE. The two companies report that they were unable to agree on final terms and conditions of the proposed $8.1 billion sale.

In June, Qiagen NV (Venlo, The Netherlands) announced its plan to acquire Digene Corp. (Gaithersburg, MD) for $1.6 billion. Qiagen estimates that the combined company will have more than $350 million in molecular diagnostics revenues and more than $800 million in total revenues in 2008. The transaction is expected to close in August or September 2007.

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