Sinocare Pays $200M For PTS Diagnostics, Expands Diabetes Business
Sinocare, a Chinese medtech specializing in the development and manufacture of biosensor technology, has inked a deal to acquire U.S.-based PTS Diagnostics and its portfolio of point-of-care (POC) biometric testing devices. The $200-million deal expands Sinocare’s global foothold in the diabetes management market.
On a company website, Sinocare states its goal of being the “largest production base of blood glucose monitoring systems in Asia.” Furthermore, in a recent press statement, Sinocare CEO Shaobo Li reiterated his company’s focus on diabetes management, specifically noting PTS Diagnostics’ lipid and HbA1c tests.
While regular glucose monitors provide a patient’s glucose levels at a specific moment in time, HbA1c tests can give a clinician an accurate idea of a patient’s average glucose levels over the course of weeks or months. Recent clinical studies conducted in the U.K. found that, by targeting these HbA1c averages, doctors can greatly reduce a patient’s risk of microvascular complications of diabetes — such as retinopathy, neuropathy, and kidney disease — by 25 percent.
Shaobo commended PTS Diagnostics for their continuous innovation, and expressed confidence that the combined companies would continue to grow globally and achieve common goals in chronic disease management. Under the terms of the agreement, Sinocare will acquire PTS Diagnostics for $200 million in cash, a figure that includes contingent considerations of up to $90 million for successfully accomplishing certain milestones.
Diabetes management has played heavily into Sinocare’s M&A strategy in recent years. Though Panasonic ultimately walked away with a deal to acquire Bayer’s diabetes business in 2015, Sinocare was a key player in the aggressive bidding war, offering as much as $1 billion for the business, which sold for $1.13 billion.
In October, Sinocare entered into a definitive agreement to buy Japan-based Nipro Corporation’s diagnostics subsidiary, and its broad portfolio of diabetes products and technologies, for $273 million in cash.
“Diabetes has become one of the biggest challenges to our public healthcare system and society,” said Shaobo in the press release announcing the deal with Nipro.
According to PTS Diagnostics CEO Robert Huffstodt, Sinocare shares his company’s vision for “transforming preventative care” for multiple chronic diseases, including diabetes.
“Our biometric connectivity and information platform PTS Connect continues to solve significant data management problems for healthcare professionals,” said Huffstodt in the press release. “We are quite pleased and excited by the many future opportunities that now open for us as part of the Sinocare, as together we will greatly expand our mutual global reach.”