Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Abbott announced that Abbott has exercised its option to purchase the remaining equity ownership in Ibis Biosciences, Inc., an Isis subsidiary, for a closing purchase price of $175 million. In addition to the closing purchase price, Isis will receive earn out payments from Abbott tied to post-closing sales of Ibis systems, including instruments and assay kits.

Earlier this year, Abbott invested $40 million in Ibis in exchange for approximately 18.6 per cent of Ibis' outstanding equity. This investment, along with the $175 million that would be due at closing, would result in a total acquisition price of $215 million plus earn out payments.

The closing of the acquisition of the remaining equity ownership in Ibis is subject to the satisfaction of the terms and conditions of a stock purchase agreement that has been executed by the parties, including obtaining clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, and is expected to occur in January, 2009.

"Abbott's confidence in Ibis is reflected in its decision to invest in Ibis' technology and to exercise its option to purchase Ibis. We have already presented development plans for the next-generation instrument that will facilitate our rapid growth into clinical diagnostics," said Michael Treble, president of Ibis. "This year we have made substantial progress by advancing our broad pathogen detection and characterization capabilities and establishing a foundation for our commercial clinical diagnostic products. We look forward to continuing this progress."

"The broad applicability of Ibis' technology has been demonstrated in biodefense applications, microbial forensics and infectious disease detection and surveillance, and we believe that it has the potential to be a powerful tool in the detection and surveillance of infectious diseases in the hospital and clinical settings," added Stafford O'Kelly, vice president, Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott.

"Ibis is an example of Isis' broad innovation, and will provide substantial benefit to our shareholders, both now as well as in the future, as Isis receives earn out payments associated with sales of Ibis products," said Stanley Crooke, M.D., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Isis. "Ibis has refined its approach toward larger commercial markets, and we believe its relationship with Abbott will allow Ibis to continue to move quickly forward along this path."

Ibis Biosciences, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Isis Pharmaceuticals, has developed and is commercializing the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System for rapid identification and characterization of infectious agents. The Ibis T5000 is currently intended for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 68,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.