Digene Calls Off Merger with Cytyc

(Gaithersburg, MD, USA) and Cytyc Corp. (Boxborough, MA, USA) has been terminated by Digene. This follows the announcement by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that if the parties sought to close the transaction, the FTC would seek an injunction to block the closing because of antitrust concerns. These included the fact that the new combined company would dominate the market for cervical cancer tests, effectively putting TriPath Imaging, a competitor of Cytyc, out of business.

Cytyc had sought to acquire Digene in February 2002 for about US$550 million in stock. The company makes the ThinPrep Pap test for cervical cancer. Digene's lead product is the Hybrid Capture 2 test for the human papilloma virus (HPV), estimated to be the cause of most cervical cancer cases. Digene is currently working on a combined test for HPV plus Pap as a primary cervical cancer screen for women 30 and over.

"We regret that the proposed merger with Cytyc will not be permitted to proceed, but we do not believe that it is in the best interest of our company and its stockholders at the present time to pursue a potentially protracted and uncertain dispute in the courts with the FTC,” said Evan Jones, chairman and CEO of Digene.




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