“The opportunity arose during business development discussions,” DeFrank says. “Active Motif and Genpathway have had various discussions over the years exploring ways in which the two companies may be able to work together. Conversations held during the summer of 2010 led to a mechanism in which we could merge the Genpathway Epigenetics service business with Active Motif’s worldwide sales and marketing efforts.” Plus, the timing was perfect, he adds.

 

“Genpathway’s lease was expiring at the end of the year, so it was a simple decision to integrate all aspects of their business into Active Motif’s Carlsbad headquarters,” DeFrank says.

 

“Given that Genpathway’s facility was only 15 miles down the road, the relocation was quick and straightforward.” The Genpathway employees responsible for performing the services and interacting with customers have been retained in order to provide the continuity and quality of service the customers have come to expect, he says.

 

The acquisition is a “perfect fit into Active Motif’s strategic mission, which is dedicated to developing and delivering innovative cell biology-based research tools and biocomputing resources that help researchers worldwide in their quest to elucidate the function, regulation and interactions of the genes and their encoded proteins,” DeFrank says.

 

Active Motif, founded in 1999, is well recognized within the academic market by life science researchers studying the underlying mechanisms involved in epigenetics, DeFrank says.

 

At the same time, Genpathway’s service business is well regarded with the life science research groups. The combined entity will leverage the technology and tools to develop products and services more applicable to the target identification and screening processes within the drug development process—as well developing assays for the molecular diagnostics market, he says.

 

“In the future, we aim to integrate many of Active Motif’s unique research tools within drug discovery and biomarker-related service offerings,” DeFrank says.

 

Operating globally from its corporate headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., and European headquarters in Rixensart, Belgium, Active Motif has a worldwide network of sales and support offices as well as distributors in Europe, Japan and North America.