Roche buys majority stake in US genomics analysis business

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche on Tuesday announced it had acquired a majority stake in US molecular and genomic analysis business Foundation Medicine for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition is expected to help the world's largest manufacturer of cancer drugs to develop treatments in cancer immunotherapy.

The Basel-based company had launched an offer in February for up to 56.3 percent stake in the Nasdaq-listed firm.

This comprised both outstanding and newly issued shares of Foundation (FMI).

"The shares purchased by Roche in the tender offer, when added to the shares already owned by Roche and its affiliates (including 5,000,000 shares issued by FMI to Roche on 7 April 2015), total approximately 21,019,111 shares, representing approximately 57 percent of the outstanding shares of FMI’s common stock," a statement said.

"Because the tender offer was oversubscribed, the number of shares accepted for purchase by Roche from each of the tendering stockholders has been prorated," a statement said.

In January, Roche had signalled its intention to invest more than $ 1 billion in the Cambridge, Massachussetts-based firm.

Sales of the Roche Group, which employs 88,500 people worldwide, totalled 47.5 billion Swiss francs (46 billion euros, $48 billion) last year.