Ampersand Capital Partners completes Growth Equity Investment in Transplantation Diagnostic firm GenDx

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May 08, 2019, 09:00 ET

UTRECHT, Netherlands, May 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genome Diagnostics B.V. ("GenDx") announced today that Ampersand Capital Partners has completed a minority, growth equity investment in the company. Wietse Mulder, PhD., remains the majority shareholder and CEO of GenDx. The partnership between Ampersand and GenDx aims to foster sustainable growth, both organically and through M&A activities in the molecular diagnostic products and services market.

GenDx is a leading provider of molecular diagnostic kits and analysis software for transplantation and companion diagnostics. Dr. Mulder commented: "GenDx has been successfully organized as a fully independent organization for almost fifteen years. We are delighted to partner with Ampersand and together continue to live by our vision of 'meaningful entrepreneurship' by offering the best products, education, and services to the transplantation community worldwide."

David Parker, a General Partner at Ampersand, added: "Given Ampersand's prior experience in the transplantation and NGS markets, we were highly impressed by the differentiated product and service offering of GenDx. We are excited to partner with Dr. Mulder and the GenDx team to build on the company's long history of profitable growth."

In connection with this transaction, David Parker has joined the GenDx Board of directors along with Ampersand Operating Partner Mike Evans, PhD. They join three founders on the GenDx Board: Dr. Mulder, Raoul Linschoten, LLM (Chairman), and Oscar Schoots, PhD. The board will be supported by non-director advisors Larry McCarthy, PhD and Frank Witney, PhD., both seasoned entrepreneurs and executives who serve as Operating Partners at Ampersand.

About GenDx
Genome Diagnostics B.V., also known as GenDx, is a Dutch company specialized in Molecular Diagnostics, focused on development, production and sales of innovative assays and analysis software for transplantation and companion diagnostics.

GenDx specializes in HLA sequencing-based typing strategies and offers reagents and software for both Sanger and NGS approaches. In 2013, GenDx started developing and distributing products for chimerism monitoring by qPCR. Thanks to its extensive in-house expertise, GenDx also offers custom laboratory services for basic and clinical research organizations. GenDx organizes dedicated HLA SBT and chimerism monitoring training courses worldwide on a regular basis for lab directors, lab managers, scientists and technicians working in tissue typing laboratories, blood banks, and donor registries.

GenDx is based at the University Science Park in Utrecht, the Netherlands and was founded in 2005 by Erik Rozemuller PhD, Wietse Mulder PhD and UMC Utrecht Holdings B.V. represented by Oscar Schoots PhD and Raoul Linschoten LLM. Further information about GenDx can be found at www.GenDx.com.

GenDx has also an office near O'Hare airport, Chicago, IL (USA).

About High-Resolution HLA Typing
The Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system consists of a large family of highly variable genes and allelic variants which form the basis of the human immunological defence system. In stem cell transplantation matching patient and donor is vital as small differences between HLA alleles may have serious effects on the outcome of transplantation. High-resolution typing is a technology which enables determination of even the smallest variations in nucleotides, making it ideal for stem cell transplantation purposes.

Until recently, Sanger sequencing-based HLA typing was considered as the golden standard for high-resolution typing. GenDx offers SBTexcellerator® and AlleleSEQR® together with the software package SBTengine® for carrying out Sanger based sequencing HLA typing. Next Generation Sequencing has become the new golden standard for HLA typing, as data analysis using NGS is becoming easier and faster to interpret and this technique is suitable for higher throughput. GenDx offers NGSgo® reagent line together with the software package NGSengine® for carrying out NGS based HLA typing.

About Chimerism Monitoring
After stem cell or bone marrow transplantation, both donor and recipient cells can be detected in the recipient's blood (chimeric status). Monitoring the chimeric status allows for the detection of recipient cells returning over time, which can possibly lead to a relapse state. GenDx has been offering KMRtype/KMRtrack reagents since 2013.. Currently, the CE-IVD marked set contains 39 assays based on bi-allelic insertions/deletions and SNPs. Software package KMRengine generates a laboratory protocol, qPCR machine sample setup sheet, and data tracking for each recipient/donor couple over time.

About Ampersand Capital Partners
Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston, MA and Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ampersand leverages a unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of its core healthcare sectors, including Avista Pharma Solutions, Brammer Bio, Confluent Medical, Genewiz, Genoptix, Talecris Biotherapeutics, and Viracor-IBT Laboratories. Additional information about Ampersand is available at www.ampersandcapital.com.

NGSgo®, NGSengine®, KMRtype®, KMRtrack® and KMRengine® are registered trademarks of GenDx. GenDx is a registered trade name of Genome Diagnostics B.V.

SOURCE Ampersand Capital Partners