Sema4 announced Tuesday that it’s acquiring GeneDx in a move the health intelligence company expects will enhance its data-driven insights and improve its market position in women’s health and the diagnosis of rare diseases.

The deal between Stamford, Connecticut-based Sema4 and GeneDx’s parent, Miami-based Opko Health, also brought in $200 million in a private transaction from growth and life sciences investors, including Pfizer that will strengthen Sema4’s balance sheet.

In a news release, the newly combined company projected it would be “one of the largest and most advanced providers of genomic clinical testing in the U.S., with a projected $350 million in pro forma 2022 revenue.”

The CEO of GeneDx, Katherine Stueland, will become co-CEO of Sema4 alongside Sema4’s founder and leader Eric Schadt; and she’ll join Sema4’s board of directors. The latest move comes just six months after Sema4 went public via a nearly $800 million SPAC merger with CM Life Sciences in July last year. Sema4’s stock price closed down nearly 15% at $3.45 per share Tuesday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, but it began to climb again in initial after-hours trading.

“Sema4 has made significant investments to create the most clinically advanced data insights engine for patients, clinicians, health systems and biopharma partners,” Schadt said in a conference call.

“The acquisition of GeneDx will accelerate our efforts and enhance our value proposition … transforming Sema4 into a larger and stronger company with a faster path to profitability,” he said. “From a strategic standpoint, this deal will buttress our current leadership position in comprehensive reproductive health genomic testing solutions and provide us with immediate opportunities to leverage GeneDx’s operational excellence.”

He also touted the newly formed leadership team, and in particular, the commercial and operational experience Stueland brings to Sema4. In addition to operational excellence, Stueland will also focus on Sema4’s diagnostic business. Schadt said he’d be focusing on leading R&D, the IT platform components of Sema4,  strategic development of the company’s health intelligence capabilities, and partnerships with health systems and biopharma.

Jason Ryan, who was formerly the chief financial officer at Foundation Medicine, will chair Sema4’s board of directors. 

Stueland said in the conference call Tuesday that she admired the work being done at GeneDx even before she officially joined the company. “Over the years it has been a quiet pioneer in diagnosing the hardest to diagnose patients,” she said.

Now, leadership expect the combined company will be able move even more quickly and expertly toward improving patient diagnosis and making precision medicine the standard of care. “This is a truly transformational combination of companies, technologies and teams,” Stueland said. “And it’s only going to accelerate both of our growth plans geared towards improving healthcare for everyone.”

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