Illumina has agreed to acquire proteomics specialist SomaLogic in a deal worth up to $425m, bolstering its portfolio amid investor concerns around its financial performance in 2025.
According to the deal, genomics giant Illumina will pay $350m upfront to acquire Standard BioTools’ SomaLogic and related assets, with a further $75m on the table if performance-based milestones and royalties are achieved.
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US-based SomaLogic has approximately 250 employees worldwide working across commercial, R&D, and manufacturing teams. The company’s main hub in Colorado will be part of the deal.
Illumina expects the transaction to close in the first half of 2026, with the two companies operating as separate entities until then.
SomaLogic’s acquisition was not enough for shares in Illumina to open higher on 23 June following the announcement. However, analyst company Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating in early June with a $185 target, citing optimism for the company’s long-term prospects.
Shares in Standard BioTools, which merged with SomaLogic in January 2024, jumped 12.5% at market, following the sale of the business.
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By GlobalDataThe transaction will see Illumina take control of a business it’s been working with since December 2021. The two companies forged a partnership more than three years ago to combine their technologies, specifically implementing SomaLogic’s SomaScan Proteomics Assay onto Illumina’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms.
Illumina holds a dominant share in the global NGS market, as per GlobalData analysis. Illumina Protein Prep, a fruition of the collaboration, enables the discovery and quantification of human proteins across more than 200 biological pathways.
Now with the acquisition, Illumina will assimilate SomaLogic’s offerings into its portfolio. The genomics company stated that SomaLogic’s protein analysis technology will unlock “presence in a high-growth area within the proteomics market”.
Illumina expects the kitted NGS-based panels business to provide a significant consumables revenue stream, with the segment becoming profitable in 2027.
Illumina CEO Jacob Thaysen said: “The acquisition of SomaLogic will enhance Illumina’s presence in the expanding proteomics market and advance the multiomics strategy we announced in 2024.
“Illumina and SomaLogic have partnered closely for more than three years, and this combination increases our ability to serve our customers and accelerate our technology roadmap towards advanced biomarker discovery and disease profiling.”
Illumina posted mixed 2024 revenue, despite a strong end to the year during Q4. Revenue for the full year was down 2% from 2023, generating $4.33bn, prompting analyst concern about near-term financial prospects. In its Q1 2025 results, the company downwardly revised its guidance for the year ahead, amid tariff and China market demand fallout.
The SomaLogic deal marks the latest key business change in the past year for Illumina. In June 2024, it spun off cancer test marker Grail before acquiring single-cell technology company Fluent BioSciences a month later.
