21 May 2013 - 21 May 2013 - US biotech firm Ignyta Inc said Monday it had purchased domestic sector player Actagene Oncology Inc for an undisclosed sum, thus entering the market for oncology personalised medicines.

Actagene's product portfolio comprises the Oncolome database and techniques including synthetic lethal screening, x-ray crystallography and structure-based drug design for development of new chemical entities against genetic targets, enriched in certain cancer populations.

Actagene's research team has discovered and advanced ten approved medicines with combined sales of more than USD 5 billion (EUR 3.9bn) in 2012, said Dr. Jonathan Lim, chairman and CEO of Ignyta.

Following the acquisition, Actagene Oncology chief executive officer (CEO), Patrick O'Connor, has occupied the positions of chief executive scientific officer and senior vice president, head of research at Ignyta.