“Similar to the approach we used in our successful commercialization of other disruptive technologies such as microfluidic LabChips and whole-animal optical imaging systems, we see an opportunity to leverage CRi’s advanced multiplex technology towards unmet needs in a rapidly changing market, in this case the billion-dollar tissue imaging and digital pathology clinical research market,” he says. “With CRi’s technologies in our toolkit, we will be able to offer a more comprehensive suite of tools and services to address the important emerging trend toward personalized medicine.”

 

Hrusovsky also notes that CRi has relationships with several universities, medical institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, the Dana Farber Cancer Center, Stanford and Baylor College of Medicine are a few stand-out customers that have used CRi’s products to perform high-throughput, quantitative imaging of intact tissue, simultaneous analysis of multiple biomarkers and multispectral imaging of small animals.   “When we look at that customer list, it’s duplicative to the list we have today,” Hrusosvky says. “So it’s not so much that this acquisition opens us up to new markets, but creates more one-stop shopping for our customers.”

 

By mid-2011, CRi’s headquarters and manufacturing operations will be consolidated into Caliper’s facilities in Hopkinton, Mass., and CRi’s Woburn facility will close. Nearly three-quarters of CRi’s 49 employees will be offered employment with Caliper.

 

CRi did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement announcing the deal, George Abe, president and CEO of CRi, said, “Caliper’s market leadership and extensive corporate relationships within the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, coupled with its rich culture of nurturing and commercializing innovative technologies, make Caliper the right partner to fully realize the market potential of CRi’s portfolio of multiplexed imaging technologies.”

 

Abe will join Caliper as senior vice president of cellular and tissue analysis and will be responsible for directing the growth and strategic direction of the tissue analysis business.

 

Overall, Caliper expects to incur restructuring, integration and initial capital investment costs of approximately $2.5 million, occurring mainly in 2011, in order to achieve anticipated business combination synergy cost benefits of  $2.5 million to $3 million per year, which will be fully phased in by the end of 2011. The transaction is expected to be EBITDA accretive in 2011.

 

Hrusovsky hints that this acquisition may soon be followed by others, as Caliper sets its sites on becoming a $240 million company within the next three years.

 

“What we need to do to achieve that is do some other acquisitions in the range of another $40 million during that period,” he says. “What we’re most interested in doing is finding a reagents company to be part of this family. And as our value goes up, it is going to be easier to acquire one of these companies.”