Sigma-Aldrich to buy Ace rat breeder
Addition of Ace Animals builds on SAGE Labs husbandry capabilities
Sigma-Aldrich is to buy Ace Animals, a US provider of laboratory rats to the biomedical industry. Ace Animals, a commercial rodent breeder established in 1973, will operate as part of Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering (SAGE) Labs.
The terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed. Closure of the deal is expected shortly.
The purchase will enhance SAGE Labs’ current rat and mouse breeding capabilities, which are primarily used in the development and characterisation of its next-generation ‘knockout’ and ‘knockin’ rat models featuring specific gene deletions, insertions, repressions and modifications created using proprietary CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology.
Through the acquisition, SAGE Labs plans to offer a significantly increased portfolio of products and services, including a number of 'wild type' rats and mice, or animals that have not been genetically modified.
Ace Animals' location in Pennsylvania is expected to enhance distribution of SAGE Labs models to key sites within the US biopharma industry, said Sigma-Aldrich.
‘With the Ace Animals acquisition, SAGE Labs will be in a better position to offer a greater number of models with the goal of helping researchers understand the functional significance of genes and their relationships to human diseases,’ said Edward Weinstein, director of SAGE Labs. ‘In vivo models of human disease states serve as more predictive proxies to the human condition, and therefore are instrumental to the discovery of novel and powerful therapeutics.’