Illumina campus [Illumina]
Illumina announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement with Standard BioTools under which Illumina will acquire SomaLogic, a leader in data-driven proteomics technology, for up to $425 million.
Illumina paid SomaLogic $30 million upfront, with the companies later agreeing to an adjusted price of $158.4 million—a price that includes $127.9 million of royalties that Illumina had been expected to pay Standard BioTools from 2025 through 2032.
The relationship between the two companies has been developing over the past several years. Illumina and SomaLogic began partnering in late 2021. Indeed, in January 2022, SomaLogic announced that it was partnering with Illumina to bring SomaLogic’s SomaScan Proteomics Assay onto Illumina’s NGS platforms. The goal was to develop co-exclusive, co-branded, NGS-based proteomics products.
When SomaLogic combined with Standard BioTools—a merger that started in 2023 and completed in January 2024—the partnership continued as planned with the development of Illumina’s NGS-based proteomics solution, now called Illumina Protein Prep, which is currently in use with nearly 40 early-access customers globally. The next anticipated milestone in the partnership is the commercial launch of Illumina Protein Prep. The solution has been in early access since 2024, but Illumina asserts that it will become available to all customers starting in the third quarter of 2025.
“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,” notes Jacob Thaysen, PhD, chief executive officer of Illumina.
The SomaScan platform uses SOMAmer reagents (Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamers) to identify circulating proteins from a sample of plasma, serum, or urine. The reagents, synthesized with a fluorophore, photocleavable linker, and biotin, are bound to streptavidin beads. Proteins are also bound and tagged with biotin. Exposure to ultraviolet light breaks the linker, releasing nonspecific complexes. The proteins can then be measured using a fluorescent array.
Combining SomaLogic’s proteomics technology with Illumina’s scalable NGS ecosystem, DRAGEN software, and Illumina Connected Multiomics will, Illumina says, accelerate the technology development roadmap for proteomics. “We are taking the scalability of NGS into proteomics,” continued Thaysen.
Per this morning’s announcement, the companies will operate separately until the acquisition is complete. SomaLogic has approximately 250 employees worldwide working in commercial, R&D, lab operations, manufacturing, and other roles. The company’s Boulder, Colorado, facilities—including a CLIA- and CAP-certified lab, office, and manufacturing space—will be part of the purchase.
Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory clearance. Illumina expects to close the transaction in the first half of 2026. Until then, the companies will continue to operate as separate and independent entities.
