LGC has announced the acquisition of SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc., a manufacturer and leading partner to global in vitro diagnostics manufacturers and clinical laboratories. SeraCare provides quality control materials for infectious disease testing through their ACCURUN® reagents as well as in the fast growing clinical next-generation sequencing (NGS) market which it addresses through its Seraseq® brand of products for oncology, NIPT and inherited disease testing.

The acquisition of SeraCare strengthens LGC’s position across the spectrum of clinical quality control tools market and builds upon its existing calibration verification materials and proficiency testing offerings including those of LGC Maine Standards, acquired in 2015. Additionally, the Seraseq clinical genomics tools are complementary to LGC’s component offering to the NGS market which includes oligonucleotides, molecular biology enzymes and magnetic beads.

SeraCare’s global customer base includes in-vitro diagnostics assay developers and manufacturers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and proficiency providers.

Euan O’Sullivan, Managing Director, LGC’s Standards division, said: “We are excited to welcome SeraCare to our Standards division. The team will be a natural fit and addition to our existing calibration verification business, providing an expanded portfolio of quality control solutions to customers. This significant acquisition will also strengthen our presence in the fast-growing molecular diagnostics and NGS reference materials market, complementing our genomics offering. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues into our organisation.”

Founded in 1984 as Boston Biomedica Inc. (BBI), SeraCare currently employs 170 people and is certified to ISO 13485:2016. The company will continue to operate from its two sites, in Milford, MA and Gaithersburg, MD under LGC’s ownership.