Inverness Medical Innovations (Waltham, Massachusetts), a developer of diagnostic products reported plans to add big pharma marketing muscle via an agreement with The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G; Cincinnati).

The companies reported that they have signed a pact to form a 50/50 joint venture (j-v) for the development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of existing and to-be-developed consumer diagnostic products “outside of the fields of cardiology and diabetes.”

Inverness and P&G first reported their intent to form the j-v in July.

With the agreement as it is now, Inverness said it will be contributing its related consumer diagnostic assets, other than manufacturing and core intellectual property assets, to the new j-v, and P&G will be acquiring its interest in the j-v through a payment of $325 million in cash.

Inverness in a statement said that its primary role in the collaboration will be “to develop and manufacture consumer diagnostic products” while P&G’s primary role will be “to market, sell, and distribute existing and to-be-developed products.”

Inverness will retain all rights with respect to the development and sale of cardiology diagnostic products and its professional Point of Care (POC) diagnostic businesses.

“We are excited about the formation of this joint venture with Inverness, which extends P&G’s healthcare presence into consumer diagnostics,” said Richard June, VP, Global Personal Health Care for P&G. “We believe that Inverness’ experience and expertise in this field can be combined with P&G’s consumer marketing and customer development capabilities to create tremendous new opportunities in the growing self-care market.”

“Inverness is proud to be contributing its consumer diagnostics business to the joint venture with P&G. We believe that this is a best-of-breed combination that has the potential for terrific growth,” said Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness.

The companies said that the deal is expected to close in the second half of 1Q07 and will be subject to standard closing conditions and approvals, including filings to be made under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Inverness said it is exploring new opportunities for its electrochemical and other technologies in a variety of professional diagnostic and consumer-oriented applications including immuno-diagnostics with a focus on women’s health, cardiology and infectious disease.

The three core products of Inverness’ cardiology test portfolio are: IMA (ischemia modified albumin); the Clearview D-dimer; and the Clearview Troponin I tests.

Inverness’ new product development efforts, as well as its position as a supplier of consumer pregnancy and fertility/ovulation tests and rapid POC diagnostics, are “supported by the strength of its intellectual property portfolio,” the companies said.

In October Inverness reported entering an agreement with Chembio Diagnostics (Medford, New York) and StatSure Diagnostic Systems (SDS; Framingham, Massachusetts), providing Inverness with exclusive worldwide marketing rights to Chembio’s FDA-cleared, POC rapid test for the detection of antibodies to HIV.

The test uses Inverness’ lateral flow technology as well as SDS’s patented “barrel” technology designed to maximize ease-of-use and minimize exposure to infectious agents.

In the deal with P&G, Inverness was represented by the law firm of Goodwin, Procter and in-house counsel, and advised by Covington Associates. P&G reported being advised by a team consisting of Covington & Burling and in-house counsel.