Sigma-Aldrich said today it has acquired the Duolink® product portfolio from Olink Bioscience for an undisclosed price.

The acquisition includes intellectual property, sales, marketing and manufacturing assets, according to Sigma-Aldrich—which itself is being bought by Merck KGaA for $17 billion, in a deal the company said last month was expected to close by the end of November.

The Duolink product line is designed for researchers studying biological pathways and seeking improved sensitivity to uncover disease biomarkers. Since 2013, Sigma-Aldrich has distributed Duolink reagents, along with pre-validated antibody pairs for proximity ligation assays (in situ PLA®).

“Duolink is valuable to our customers and complements the rest of Sigma-Aldrich's Protein Biology portfolio,” Amanda Halford, vp, academic research for Sigma-Aldrich, said in a statement. "The acquisition of Duolink allows Sigma-Aldrich to provide comprehensive solutions for enabling experimental reproducibility, with continued reliability in supply and quality.”

“Duolink has been a very important product in the history and development of Olink, and we feel that with this acquisition by Sigma-Aldrich, it will be in very good hands and continue to be a great success," stated Olink CEO Jon Heimer.