Roche offers $5.7 billion to buy gene firm Illumina

(Reuters) – Roche Holding AG is offering $ 5.7 billion in cash to buy U.S. gene sequencing company Illumina Inc in a hostile takeover bid that marks a major play by the Swiss drugmaker into the gene technology field. Gene sequencing is central to personalized medicine, which allows scientists to predict a patient’s response to a particular drug, both during clinical practice and in drug trials. Roche is already the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, where gene analysis is progressing fastest, as well as a major maker of diagnostic tests. The Basel-based group said it would offer to acquire all of Illumina’s shares for $ 44.50 each in cash, an 18 percent premium to Illumina’s closing price…

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