Biotech firm's investors listened to customers, changed the business and increased value
Shortly after Tom Shannon invested in and began running Prodesse Inc., he realized no one wanted to buy the Waukesha biotech company's labor-intensive flu tests.
Instead of abandoning Prodesse, Shannon decided to take it in a new direction.
The fruits of that decision were apparent this week when San-Diego-based Gen-Probe Inc. said it would acquire privately held Prodesse for $60 million. That price could rise as high as $85 million if certain milestones are met in 2010 and 2011.
"Prodesse is a great success story for the state because it beat all the big companies by being first to market with a highly accurate, molecular diagnostic flu test," said Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of Madison-based Exact Sciences Corp. and a Prodesse director.
