QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN) and GENCURIX (KOSDAQ: 229000) announced a partnership to develop oncology assays for QIAGEN’s QIAcuityDx digital PCR platform, according to a press release statement.
GENCURIX becomes the inaugural partner in QIAGEN’s new QIAcuityDx Partnering Program, which aims to expand the menu of in vitro diagnostic (IVD) assays available on the QIAcuityDx Four platform. The collaboration will focus on creating multiplex oncology assays for both tissue and liquid biopsy applications.
"The first partnership in this program with GENCURIX is an exciting moment, giving our oncology testing customers access to high-quality IVD assays that complement other established methods such as qPCR and NGS," said Jonathan Arnold, Vice President and Head of Partnering for Precision Diagnostics at QIAGEN.
Under the agreement, GENCURIX will develop multiple oncology assays and pursue IVD regulatory approvals as the legal manufacturer. Once approved, the assays will be marketed through QIAGEN’s global commercial infrastructure.
The partnership leverages QIAGEN’s QIAcuityDx platform, which is part of the QIAcuity family of digital PCR systems that reached more than 2,700 cumulative placements by the end of 2024. With a robust gross profit margin of 67% and strong liquidity position, QIAGEN is well-positioned to support this expansion. The collaboration aims to address growing demand for broader access to high-precision diagnostic assays in clinical laboratories.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has decided to keep the existing dosing schedule for Merck & Co's (MRK, Financial) Gardasil HPV vaccine unchanged, opting for the two to three-dose regimen. This decision is in line with Merck's recent advocacy efforts to preserve the FDA-approved guidelines, ensuring the continuity of their current vaccine strategy.
While access to capital funding remains elusive for many biotechs and the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain due to tariffs, M&A remains strong and should ramp up in the second half of the year, according to pharma dealmakers, venture capitalists, and market observers.
While "tariffs sucked a lot of oxygen from industry in the last couple of months," that is poised to change later this year, according to EY Americas Life Sciences Sector Leader Arda Ural. He added he expects that negotiations over tariffs to get settled in the next few months, the tax bill under consideration in Congress to provide benefits for the pharma and biotech industries, and the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September.
Ural was speaking as part of a panel on the environment for capital markets, transactions, and financing at the BIO International Convention in Boston Wednesday. The panel also coincided with Wednesday's release of the EY Biotech Beyond Borders 2025 Report
Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) VP, Corporate Development Ryan MacDonald said that despite the economic uncertainty, it's business as usual at the pharma giant in terms of pursuing deals. He added that Bristol is looking to find transformative and best-in-class therapies across its core therapeutics areas. "Our desire to invest in...innovative medicine is as high as it's ever been."
Marian Nakada, VP, Venture Investments at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Innovation added that J&J is especially interested in deals centered around oncology as advances in CAR T cell therapies, radio conjugates, and antibody-drug conjugates have really taken off.
M&A activity will also pick up because a number of large pharma companies are facing loss of exclusivity for some of their major money-making drugs in the coming years, necessitating new assets to replace the upcoming loss of revenue, noted Paris Panayiotopoius, senior managing director with Blackstone Life Sciences Group.
EY Biotech Beyond Borders Report 2025
EY Biotech Beyond Borders Report 2025
He added that genomics, proteomics, and targeted therapies across multiple therapeutics areas, combined with the increasing use of AI tools in drug development, bodes well for dealmaking.
Echoing this sentiment, biotech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Gregory Verdine, who is also CEO of Lifemine Therapeutics, said, "We are right now in the golden age of opening up vast swaths of therapeutic opportunities that we didn't have the tools to go after them" before.
Despite the optimism over M&A, panelists were less sanguine about the IPO market.
Bristol's MacDonald said that the market for IPOs "is pretty shut off," adding that in a tight financing environment, IPOs are the last to recover.
"I don't think we're anywhere close to a resurgence of the IPO market," added Verdine. "That's at least a year away."
The EY report is also pessimistic on the outlook for the biotech IPO market. EY data indicates that after the number of biotech IPOs in the U.S. and Europe peaked in 2021 at around 150, it fell to about 15 in 2022. In 2024, the figure was around 30. However, at the end of 2024, only eight of the 30 were trading above the closing price on their initial closing date.
Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear are working to integrate the USDC stablecoin as collateral in regulated U.S. futures markets, aiming to launch the new framework in 2026.
If approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the plan is expected to mark the first time a stablecoin is formally accepted as collateral for margined futures in the U.S.
Coinbase Custody Trust would hold the USDC. Nodal Clear, a CFTC-regulated and part of the Deutsche Börse-owned EEX Group, would handle clearing.
The two firms said they are collaborating with U.S. regulators to bring the offering to market.
“Our commitment to integrate USDC as collateral reflects our dedication to enhance trading capabilities for US market participants, improve operational efficiency through almost instant money movement,” Boris Ilyevsky, CEO of Coinbase Derivatives, said in a statement.
Coinbase touted the move as a “meaningful milestone” in its push to turn USDC into a “true cash equivalent.” The stablecoin, the second-largest behind Tether’s USDT, is also set to be integrated into Shopify over Base.
Prominent Democratic lawmakers are boycotting Stephen Starr's restaurants in Washington, but former President Joe Biden was spotted making a brief trip to Starr's Parc bistro in Philadelphia on Monday morning.
Biden was observed entering the Rittenhouse Square restaurant around 9:15 a.m. with his full security detail trailing behind, according to blogger HughE Dillon and other social mediaposts. At the same time, the Amazon Prime series "Reacher" was filming a scene outside.
Parc staffers declined to confirm Biden's presence, but Dillon wrote on Instagram that he left the restaurant around 10:15 a.m. He took photos and chatted with passersby on his way out.
Biden dined at Parc just weeks after congressional Democrats, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, pledged to boycott six Starr restaurants in Washington as a show of solidarity with restaurant workers who are attempting to unionize.
"With these restaurants that are frequented so much by members of Congress, our boycott of fundraisers and visiting could have a real impact - could really help these workers," Texas Sen. Greg Casar told Axios earlier this month.
The Parc visit also is among Biden's first appearances since he announced in late May that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Amazon Prime's "Reacher" series also held several shoots in the city over the weekend, including in the Logan Square area. Dillon, who runs the Philly Chit Chat blog, was watching the film shoot as Biden's entourage rolled up.
That time they were filming Reacher @parcrittenhouse and Joe Biden and his detail pull up for breakfast. I was wondering why the cast and crew broke into applause as these people walked into the restaurant..#phillywood#joebiden#reacherpic.twitter.com/dowCVbfAFa
Texas Instruments said Wednesday it will spend more than $60 billion to expand its US manufacturing footprint, the latest chipmaker to ramp up domestic production amid pressure from the Trump administration to reshore the semiconductor supply chain.
In December, the Biden administration finalized a $1.61 billion government subsidy for Texas Instruments to support construction of three new facilities after the company announced plans to invest at least $18 billion under the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science bill.
The company said Wednesday the $60 billion will be used to build or expand seven chip-making facilities at three sites in Texas and Utah, including two new facilities in Sherman, Texas, and will create 60,000 jobs, calling it the “largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in US history.”
Texas Instruments said the $60 billion investment will create 60,000 jobs and called it the “largest investment in foundational semiconductor manufacturing in US history.”REUTERS
In August 2024, the company said it could build seven chip-building facilities and spend up to $40 billion on its Sherman, Texas operations and $21 billion on Utah and other Texas plants.
Texas Instruments has been building facilities in Texas and one in Utah as part of efforts to boost in-house manufacturing and stave off rising competition from Chinese analog chipmakers.
The company did not give a precise timeline for the investment, which includes up to $46 billion in Texas and about $15 billion in Utah.
Texas Instruments said its long-term CapEx plan is unchanged.
Unlike AI chip firms Nvidia and AMD, TI makes analog or foundational chips used in everyday devices such as smartphones, cars and medical devices, giving it a large client base that includes Apple, SpaceX and Ford Motor.
The spending plan follows similar announcements from others in the semiconductor industry, including Micron, which said last week that it will expand its US investment by $30 billion, taking its planned spending to $200 billion.
Texas Instruments has been building facilities in Texas and one in Utah as part of efforts to boost in-house manufacturing and stave off rising competition from Chinese analog chipmakers.REUTERS
Analysts have said they see the spending plans as overtures to President Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to kill the $52.7 billion 2022 CHIPS and Science Act and warned of potential new tariffs on semiconductor imports.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday the Texas Instruments investment will boost “foundational semiconductors that go into the electronics that people use every day. Our partnership with TI will support US chip manufacturing for decades to come.”
Like other companies unveiling such spending commitments, TI’s announcement includes funds already allocated to facilities that are either under construction or ramping up.
