In its third acquisition within the past week, F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. agreed to buy BioVeris Corp. for $600 million, or $21.50 per share.

The deal follows closely on Roche's acquisitions of Therapeutic Human Polyclonals Inc. for $56.5 million and 454 Life Sciences for $154.9 million. (See BioWorld Today, Mar. 30 and Apr. 3, 2007.)

In the latest buy-out, Basel, Switzerland-based Roche will pay a 58 percent premium to BioVeris' Tuesday closing price of $13.60. Shares of Gaithersburg, Md.-based BioVeris (NASDAQ:BIOV) raced to catch up on Wednesday, closing at $20.66, up 52 percent, or $7.06.

For Roche, the premium might just be worth its weight in gold if it finally ends the 10-year dispute between the two companies over electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technology.

ECL, a process in which certain chemicals emit light when electrochemically stimulated, is used in a variety of assays for clinical diagnosis, biomarker discovery, pathogen detection, and other applications. Originally developed by IGEN Inc., ECL was licensed to Boehringer Mannheim GmbH (BMG) in 1992 and subsequently incorporated into BMG's Elecsys immunochemistry line of in vitro diagnostics. In 1997, IGEN sued BMG for breaching its license by understating the royalties due to IGEN. When Roche acquired BMG in 1998, it inherited the lawsuit.

In 2003, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled that IGEN could terminate its ECL license with Roche and retain rights to any improvements in the technology added by Roche. The court also ordered Roche to pay IGEN $18.6 million in compensatory damages. Rather than potentially lose its $600 million Elecsys product line, Roche acquired IGEN for $1.4 billion. But as part of the deal, IGEN spun-out BioVeris, which held onto the rights to ECL technology in certain markets. (See BioWorld Today, Jul. 28, 2003.)

Disputes continued over Roche's sales of ECL-based products outside of the licensed fields, culminating early this year in BioVeris' statement that a $2.8 million payment from Roche for 2004 out-of-field sales was insufficient. BioVeris announced plans to hire an independent auditor to examine Roche's sales and accounting records, at which point Roche decided to end the feud by acquiring BioVeris, this time with the complete ECL patent estate.

In addition to the ECL patents, Roche gets BioVeris' Biosecurity and Life Sciences business units, which generated $2.7 million and $2.9 million in sales, respectively, in the most recent quarter. BioVeris reported $50 million in cash and equivalents as of Dec. 31, 2006.

What Roche does not get is BioVeris' vaccine business. Samuel Wohlstadter, chairman and CEO of BioVeris, retained the rights to purchase certain intellectual property and related assets associated with the vaccine unit, which he intends to spin-out into a separate entity.

Launched in 2004, BioVeris' vaccine business uses synthetic and semi-synthetic conjugate carbohydrate vaccines rather than weakened or dead pathogens or immunogenic molecules obtained from microorganisms. The company has licensed programs in meningitis serogroup B, Group B strep, Group A Strep, Pneumococcus, Chlamydia, Candida, and urinary tract infection (UTI) associated E. coli, all of which are in preclinical development.

Wohlstadter also retained the right to create a new entity based on a non-exclusive limited license to the ECL technology.

The acquisition is expected to close during the third quarter of 2007, pending approval from BioVeris' shareholders, receipt of certain regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions. The boards of directors of both companies have already unanimously approved the acquisition.

Neither company was available to comment, but spokespersons said regulatory filings containing additional details are expected within the next few days.