Affymetrix Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Panomics Inc., a privately held Fremont, California.-based company that offers a powerful suite of assay products for a wide variety of low to mid-plex genetic, protein and cellular analysis applications. The acquisition will strengthen Affymetrix' position in high-growth validation and routine-testing market segments. The combination will also enable a more complete customer workflow, beginning with whole-genome Affymetrix microarray studies and then focusing on genes and proteins of interest with the Panomics products.

Panomics has grown rapidly with a number of easy-to-use low to mid-plex products that can currently run on an installed base of more than 5,600 instruments worldwide. These products work on a broad range of sample types and offer a direct assay approach with high sensitivity and specificity. The assays do not require nucleic acid extraction or amplification, which streamlines customer workflows for applications including gene expression, copy number and cytogenetics. The products will complement the recently acquired liquid array technology, enabling Affymetrix to address low to mid-plex genetic analysis requirements more effectively in the future.

Under the terms of the agreement, Affymetrix will pay approximately $73 million in cash to acquire Panomics. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2008, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Affymetrix will discuss the impact of this acquisition during the fourth quarter and fiscal 2008 year-end earnings call.

"Panomics presented a great opportunity for Affymetrix to enter new high-growth market segments, enhance our recently acquired liquid array platform and create further operating leverage," said Kevin King, president of Affymetrix. "As one company, we will be able to serve a much larger customer base around the world with a broader product portfolio that offers a more complete analysis workflow, enabling customers to perform experiments not possible on any other platform."

"We are very excited to join such a respected and innovative organization like Affymetrix," said Frank Witney, Ph.D., president and CEO of Panomics. "Our patented technology is very complementary to Affymetrix' current product portfolio and we look forward to rolling out new integrated genetic analysis solutions in the future."

Panomics is a privately-held life science company that offers a platform of reagents and products that enable the multiplex measurement of molecular events, such as intracellular pathway analysis, cell signalling and gene expression profiling, in a quantitative and scalable manner.

Affymetrix is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has manufacturing facilities in Sacramento, California, Cleveland, Ohio, and Singapore. The company has about 1,100 employees worldwide and maintains sales and distribution operations across Europe and Asia.