Bio-Rad's executives told the virtual audience during its presentation at the conference that the coming year will see the Hercules, California-based firm taking advantage of a projected $200 million opportunity in molecular surveillance of wastewater using digital PCR, and expanding into the single cell sample preparation market for sequencing with its Celsee acquisition.
Meanwhile, it will also grow its Asia Pacific business and further develop its growing bioprocessing and pharmaceutical support business.
CFO Ilan Daskal also said that though Bio-Rad has previously preferred making two to three tuck-in acquisitions each year, Bio-Rad is ready for a larger, transformative deal, ranging from a $1 billion to $2 billion transaction "up to a merger of equals [depending on] what opportunity will arise."
For such a transaction to happen, one must wait for the right opportunity and react quickly, he said, adding that "we are very open-minded ... but we want to entertain a transaction with a unicorn."
Additionally, on the capital deployment front, Bio-Rad will continue to be opportunistic about share buybacks, he added.
Bio-Rad expects $235 million in COVID-19-related sales in 2021, skewing toward its PCR instrumentation business. Chief Operating Officer Andy Last said its open-platform instruments were placed in small- and medium-sized labs globally and can potentially be redirected as needed when the pandemic ultimately abates.
Bio-Rad's only COVID-19 test to date, the Bio-Rad SARS-CoV-2 ddPCR Kit, runs on its droplet digital PCR system and was granted Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in May. Although Bio-Rad is "clearly a late mover" in the SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR diagnostic assay space, Last said it now expects EUA decisions imminently for two other assays.
These include "one syndromic test and one straight COVID-19 PCR test," Last said, likely referring to singleplex and multiplex RT-qPCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. Bio-Rad also expects EUA for a neutralizing antibody test on its BioPlex automated multiplex immunoassay system. For the PCR assays, Bio-Rad will pursue selling them for use with its instrument installed base, but the tests can also be run on any open RT-qPCR platform, Last said.
Company officials said that the firm's droplet digital PCR business continued to grow at double digits through the pandemic, and Bio-Rad sees it as a long-term growth driver with broad applications. A new digital PCR entry from Qiagen, the QiAquity, does not change Bio-Rad's outlook, Last said, but rather is a "testament to the importance of digital PCR to the broader market."
Bio-Rad CEO Norman Schwartz said that Bio-Rad anticipates sustained COVID-19 testing demand well into 2021, but beyond that it is unclear. "We're in a little bit of a new world here," he said.
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