Dive Brief:
- Agilent said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy digital pathology software provider Proscia for $240 million upfront.
- The deal, which includes up to $30 million in milestones, will give Agilent control of technology that connects slide scanners, laboratory information systems and other parts of the pathology workflow.
- Agilent’s deal comes months after Roche agreed to buy PathAI for up to $1.05 billion. Evercore ISI analysts noted that Agilent “got the rights to play in this market at a lower price point.”
Dive Insight:
Focused on the U.S. and Europe, Proscia serves more than 4,000 laboratories, hospitals and clinics, as well as 16 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies. The company’s revenues exceeded $18 million over the past 12 months.
The takeover is “a small deal in the overall scheme of things,” but Proscia “fits in very well” with Agilent, Evercore analysts said in a note to investors. Closing the takeover will allow Agilent to “immediately start cross-selling Proscia’s software to its existing Dako customers,” the analysts added.
Proscia’s growth rate exceeds 20%, according to Evercore. The analysts see potential for the company’s growth to accelerate under Agilent, reflecting the “channel synergies” created by the acquisition. Proscia’s gross margins “should be healthy” because it is a software business, the analysts said. Agilent called the acquired company a “high-growth, high-margin software business.”
The takeover will establish a platform “for scientific intelligence in tissue-based precision medicine, connecting data generation with AI-based interpretation in a workflow that supports biomarker research through routine clinical use,” Agilent CEO Padraig McDonnell said in a statement.
Agilent has a long-term interest in digital pathology, signing a co-promotion deal with Visiopharm in 2020 and disclosing a distribution pact with Proscia in 2023. Buying Proscia moves Agilent deeper into the sector, which McDonnell said is “quickly becoming the foundation for pathology data generation, analysis and application.”
Agilent expects to close the deal early in its 2027 fiscal year, which starts Nov. 1.
