bioMérieux acquires bioinformatics company Applied Maths

In vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux has announced its acquisition of Applied Maths, a company that develops state-of-the-art software solutions for the biosciences — in particular for databasing, analysis and interpretation of complex biological data.

Applied Maths develops and commercialises BioNumerics universal software for microbiology applications, including in bacteriology, virology and mycology. The software has the ability to manage a wide range of different data types (phenotypic information, molecular PCR, genetic sequences, spectral profiles, whole genome maps, metadata, etc), making it suitable for national and international projects, networks and critical-mission applications for the integrated analysis of biological data.

With an installed base of over 81,000 instruments worldwide, bioMérieux’s automated diagnostic solutions are generating rapidly increasing quantities of biological information that is key to improve clinical knowledge about disease-causing microorganisms. Strengthening its bioinformatics know-how is instrumental to bioMérieux enhancing its offering in the analysis and interpretation of biological data.

“Bioinformatics unleashes the potential of big data management and may have an impact on in vitro diagnostics by progressively breaking down barriers between service offerings from laboratories and diagnostic solutions commercialised by IVD companies,” bioMérieux Chairman Jean-Luc Belingard said.

“The acquisition of Applied Maths, with its powerful BioNumerics software suite, will help answer the most recent expectations of our customers, facing a growing digitalisation of the laboratory environment and requiring more insights to make more informed clinical decisions for better patient care.”

Initially, the acquisition of Applied Maths will enrich and expand the bioMérieux EpiSeq service in NGS for the epidemiological monitoring and control of healthcare-associated infections. Taking a more long-term perspective, synergies are foreseen in the field of clinical microbiology, particularly for the optimisation of bioMérieux’s data management tools and collection of clinically relevant bacterial strains, the consolidation of data from different instruments (including the recently acquired FilmArray), as well as in industrial microbiology to facilitate the traceability and investigations of epidemics all along the food chain.

“Applied Maths is very pleased to join the bioMérieux family,” said Applied Maths CEO Koen Janssens. “Our common passion for microbiology forms a very solid basis to build our future synergies on the short and longer term. By combining our fields of expertise, we will improve the quality of public health and food safety worldwide.”