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Roche completes acquisition of ARIUS
- Gains access to new screening platform for antibody therapeutics BASEL, Switzerland, Sept. 24 /...
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n- Gains access to new screening platform for antibody therapeutics\n\n\nBASEL, Switzerland, Sept. 24 /CNW/ - Roche (SWX: ROG) announced today\nthat it has completed the acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding\nshares and warrants of ARIUS Research (TSX: ARI). On September 19th, the\nOntario Superior Court, Canada, approved the Plan of Arrangement previously\napproved by the security holders and announced in a press release dated 23\nJuly 2008. All other conditions of closing have been satisfied.\n\n\nARIUS is the developer of a proprietary antibody platform called\nFunctionFIRST(TM), which rapidly identifies and selects antibodies based on\ntheir functional ability to affect disease before progressing into clinical\ndevelopment. This antibody generation engine has enabled ARIUS to develop a\npipeline of more than 500 antibody drug candidates. The FunctionFIRST(TM)\ntechnology platform will allow Roche to further strengthen its developmental\nportfolio, initially within the areas of oncology and inflammatory diseases\nwhere this new technique offers potentially broad therapeutic applications.\n\n\nAbout Roche\n\n\nHeadquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading\nresearch-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and\ndiagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of\nproducts and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and\ntreatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to\nimproving people's health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in\nin-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market\nleader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as\nautoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the\ncentral nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled\n36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of\n9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with\nnumerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and\nChugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide,\nthe Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on\nthe Internet at www.roche.com.\n\n\nAll trademarks used or mentione...