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Roche Buys North County Biotech GenMark For $1.8 Billion

The San Diego biotech GenMark in an undated photo.
GenMark
The San Diego biotech GenMark in an undated photo.
While many industries have suffered as a result of COVID 19 the Biotech industry has grown. Carlsbad's GenMark Diagnostics was bought by Swiss Pharmaceutical Giant Roche for $1.8 billion. This is thanks to its development of rapid testing kits which has put San Diego in the spotlight for bringing innovation to the market during a pandemic.

While many industries have suffered as a result of COVID-19, the biotechnology industry has grown.

Carlsbad's GenMark Diagnostics, for example, was bought by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche for $1.8 Billion. Its development of rapid testing kits has put San Diego in the spotlight for bringing innovation to the market during a pandemic.

The San Diego Union-Tribune technology reporter Mike Freeman has been covering San Diego companies like GenMark that have been creating new technologies to quickly diagnose COVID-19.

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"Expertise tends to cluster in these tech fields and there is strong expertise in this area," said Freeman who joined Midday Edition on Thursday to discuss the testing innovations being developed by San Diego biotechnology companies.

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