Roche has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Los Gatos, Calif.-based GeneWeave BioSciences, a privately held company focused on molecular clinical microbiology diagnostic solutions.

The acquisition provides Roche with GeneWeave’s Smarticles technology, which quickly identifies multidrug-resistant organisms and assesses antimicrobial susceptibility directly from clinical samples without the need for traditional enrichment, culture, or sample preparation processes. GeneWeave’s first system in development is the vivoDx, a fully automated, random-access system designed to meet the needs of laboratories addressing MDRO detection and antibiotic therapy guidance. The technology, marketed as enabling a “sample in, susceptibility out” testing paradigm, is being evaluated at multiple sites across the U.S.

My latest in the “Put It on the Board” section of CAP TODAY. Read the whole shebang.