Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Thermo BioStar, Inc.

2005 · Acquisition/Merger · $52M · Complete

WRONG BY 52 POINTS

A small, profitable bolt-on that Inverness folded in and then shut down within three years — the BioStar OIA line and its Colorado plant were exited in 2008 with a $10.6M impairment/restructuring charge, even as parent Inverness (later Alere) grew via dozens of other acquisitions before its own scandal-driven sale to Abbott in 2017.

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The coverage arc

Sep 19, 2005 Covington Associates Bullish

Covington Associates advised Inverness Medical Innovations on its acquisition of Thermo Electron's BioStar division, an advisor announcement framing the…

Oct 01, 2005 LabMedica Bullish

LabMedica framed the BioStar deal as part of an Inverness roll-up of POC diagnostics — paired with the ~$11.8M Innogenetics Diagnostica purchase — building…

Oct 04, 2005 BioWorld Neutral

Deals roundup notes Inverness closes its BioStar buy, neutral trade-press confirmation that the rapid-diagnostics acquisition completed as announced.

Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.

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Inverness acquires Thermo BioStar from Thermo Electron for ~$52.5M; rapid diagnostics for infectious disease.

Did it work? Outcome assessment

A small, profitable bolt-on that Inverness folded in and then shut down within three years — the BioStar OIA line and its Colorado plant were exited in 2008 with a $10.6M impairment/restructuring charge, even as parent Inverness (later Alere) grew via dozens of other acquisitions before its own scandal-driven sale to Abbott in 2017.

Strategic verdict
Failed to Achieve

Key facts

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Thermo BioStar, Inc. (this deal)2005$52M31
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Abbott Laboratories Rapid Diagnostics (pregnancy / drug-of-abuse lines)2003$92M71
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Innogenetics Diagnostica y Terapeutica S.A. (IDT)2005$19M45
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Ischemia Technologies Inc.2004$22M33
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. / Binax Inc.2004
AstraZeneca PLC / KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Limited2005$210M98
Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical / Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.200592

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