A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR US medical-technology firm has bought out Irish genetic-processing company GenCell for a secret sum only three years after the Limerick outfit set up shop.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), which is worth about $24 billion (€18.9 billion) on its current share price, has announced it was buying the privately-held Irish company and its “next-generation sequencing” technology.

The catch-all term describes the latest genetic-processing techniques which allow labs to work with and analyse DNA much quicker and more cheaply than was previously possible.

GenCell, which was founded in 2011, developed its own robotic system for processing DNA using “liquid-cell technology”, which involved synthetic cells mimicking nature while the operation was being carried out.

CEO and founder Kieran Curran said the company had been able to develop the technology from concept to product over a short time and the buyout meant it would be able to look at further innovation.

GenCell raised €2.7 million in seed funding two years ago to help it get off the ground through a combination of private investors and the state-backed Enterprise Ireland.

All quiet on the price

In a statement today, BD said it would not release financial details of the buyout until its next earnings update.

But the company’s president, Linda Tharby, said GenCell’s technology gave it access to “a fast-growing segment with the potential to have a significant impact on healthcare” as well as the scope to grow its genetics business.

The announcement comes just over a week after BD signed a $12.2 billion (€9.6 billion) deal to buy rival medical-technology firm CareFusion.

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