QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the development of a range of next-generation systems for digital polymerase chain reaction (digital PCR or dPCR), one of the fastest-growing molecular testing applications in the life sciences industry.

QIAGEN expects to launch a fully integrated solution in 2020 that offers highly automated workflows combined with significantly quicker time-to-result, higher multiplexing and greater throughput flexibility than currently available digital PCR platforms.

The new systems, which are in advanced stages of development, have been created through the combination of QIAGEN technologies and automation with key digital PCR assets that are being acquired from Formulatrix, Inc., a privately-held U.S. developer of laboratory automation solutions. QIAGEN has reached an agreement to acquire these assets from Formulatrix, and the transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2019 (pending U.S. and other regulatory approvals).

“Digital PCR represents a disruptive, next-generation method of PCR testing that enables precise quantification of nucleic acids and target sequences, and has been shown to offer superior accuracy and sensitivity compared to other PCR and NGS-based approaches,” said Peer M. Schatz, Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN N.V.

The full press release can be found here.