Veracyte has acquired Convergent Genomics for $150 million in cash, adding a urine-based tumor DNA platform to its bladder cancer testing business.
The agreement provides for up to $30 million more if Convergent meets specified publication and reimbursement milestones, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The structure ties part of the purchase price to the work needed to bring the technology into broader clinical use.
Convergent’s UroAmp platform analyzes tumor DNA in urine. Veracyte said the technology has been clinically validated for uses in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, including monitoring treatment response and watching for recurrence. Urine may be especially useful for this form of the disease: Tumors confined to the bladder can shed limited DNA into the bloodstream, making blood-based detection challenging.
“Bladder cancer care is advancing quickly, yet clinicians and patients still face significant uncertainty at critical decision points,” said Marc Stapley, Veracyte’s chief executive officer. “UroAmp brings a differentiated urine-based platform that is especially well suited to non-muscle-invasive disease. Together with our Decipher Bladder and TrueMRD tests, this acquisition strengthens Veracyte’s ability to deliver complementary insights from urine, tissue, and blood to help guide care across the bladder cancer continuum.”
Specialty testing continues to draw interest
The Convergent deal is yet another sign to clinical laboratory professionals about how the market has split between routine blood-based assays and high-end genetic and molecular tests. The Dark Report noted the divergence between these types of tests has led to a massive wave of action among in vitro diagnostics manufacturers since early 2025.
Veracyte already offers the tissue-based Decipher Bladder test and a blood-based monitoring test, TrueMRD. UroAmp would add urine testing to that lineup.
The company’s first planned UroAmp-based test would help assess whether patients who have completed an initial course of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy are likely to benefit from continued treatment. Veracyte expects to commercialize the test in late 2028, subject to reimbursement timing. It also plans to explore UroAmp for treatment monitoring and surveillance after curative treatment.
That timeline puts a substantial gap between the acquisition and the planned launch. Convergent brings an existing CLIA-certified clinical laboratory in South San Francisco, but Veracyte still must turn UroAmp into a reimbursed commercial test.
