Baylor and Miraca Holdings Finalize Joint Venture on Clinical Genetic Testing
On February 2nd, Baylor College of Medicine and Miraca Holdings Inc. finalized a joint venture in which the College will share ownership and governance of its clinical genetics diagnostic laboratories with the Japan-based international health care company that has a focus on clinical diagnostics and laboratory tests.
The name of the new entity is Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories. Baylor Miraca Genetics will be built on Baylor’s existing Medical Genetics Laboratories, which engages in clinical laboratory genetic testing.
Baylor and Miraca agreed on the terms of the joint venture on Oct. 31, with Paul Klotman, M.D., president, CEO and executive dean of Baylor, and Hiromasa Suzuki, Ph.D., president and CEO of Miraca, signing the documents in Houston. In the weeks that followed, work was completed on the governmental, business and scientific regulatory approvals needed for closing.
The jointly-owned clinical diagnostic venture will be headquartered in Houston, initially in space in the McGovern Building on the McGovern Campus in the Texas Medical Center, the same location as under Baylor.
“The formation of Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories demonstrates the tremendous technologies emerging from The Texas Medical Center and new partnerships with industry. We are delighted that this company will be based in Houston, which is emerging as one of the most exciting destinations for life sciences,” said Robert C. Robbins, M.D., president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center.
Baylor has provided diagnostics services for over 35 years and is the number one National Institutes of Health-funded genetics program. It also is home to one of three U.S.-based large-scale genome sequencing centers funded by the NIH. Baylor will continue to independently drive its genetic diagnostic research agenda and the joint venture is expected to fully support the academic mission of the college’s department of molecular and human genetics.
All Baylor faculty involved in clinical diagnostics will remain Baylor faculty members and employees. The college’s educational training programs in genetics and genome sequencing will continue operating through a formal academic affiliation with the joint venture, enabling trainees to have an opportunity to expand their laboratory diagnostic skills in a larger enterprise with samples coming from around the world.
Miraca, a holding company operating in the health care sector, is dedicated to in vitro diagnostic, clinical laboratory testing and other health care-related businesses through its subsidiaries such as Fujirebio Inc., one of the major domestic in vitro diagnostic reagent manufacturers, and SRL, Inc., the largest clinical laboratory testing company in Japan. Miraca also has the largest U.S. independent anatomic pathology business, Miraca Life Sciences, Inc., headquartered in Irving, Texas, and is continuing to expand its footprint outside Japan. Miraca will provide its experience and capability to commercialize the joint venture.
