Soon-Shiong’s NantOmics Acquires Gene Sequencing Startup Genos

0
Soon-Shiong’s NantOmics Acquires Gene Sequencing Startup Genos
Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Molecular diagnostics firm NantOmics, a subsidiary of billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong’s Culver City-based NantWorks, has acquired Genos, a genetic sequencing company.

Financial details were not disclosed.

NantOmics invested $6 million in San Francisco-based Genos late last year. The startup was spun off in May 2016 from Complete Genomics, an established genetic sequencing company.

NantOmics plans to integrate Genos’ technology, technical expertise, and data visualization and research platform into its panomic analysis tools, according to an announcement late last week.

“We are excited to integrate the Genos technology and to welcome Genos employees to the NantOmics team,” said Soon-Shiong, founder and chief executive of NantOmics, in a statement. “With the addition of the state-of-the-art discovery and research tools from Genos, NantOmics will enhance its comprehensive diagnostic platform which delivers patient-specific pan-omic information and, ultimately, improves disease diagnosis and treatment.”

Mark Blumling, co-founder and chief executive officer of Genos, said in statement that joining forces with NantWorks would “help accelerate the field of precision medicine and precision health.”

Neither executive was immediately available for comment.

Soon-Shiong’s NantHealth Inc. faced a plummeting share price in early March when Stat, a news group affiliated with the Boston Globe, reported L.A.’s wealthiest person may have used a philanthropic donation to benefit the business. Soon-Shiong refuted the report, saying in a Los Angeles Times interview that such claims were “maliciously false.”

NantHealth also reported in late March that it lost $184 million in 2016, largely due to lagging sales of its much-touted GPS Cancer diagnostic test.

Contact media and entertainment reporter Diane Haithman at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @dhaithman for the latest in L.A. business news.

No posts to display