Castle Biosciences to acquire Cernostics for $80m.

Castle Biosciences agreed to acquire Illumina Ventures company, Cernostics, spatial analytics platform, in a cash-and-stock deal worth $30m. The deal also involves future contingent milestone payments in cash or stock of up to $50m. "Acquiring the TissueCypher platform is aligned with our commitment to utilizing innovative technology to provide clinically actionable information that guides disease management and improves patient outcomes. Unfortunately, the incidence of esophageal cancer is increasing at one of the fastest rates of all cancers in the US, so we need new clinical tools to reverse this growth trend in the diagnosis of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC)," Derek Maetzold, Castle Biosciences CEO.