Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings expanded its blood biomarker test portfolio for Alzheimer’s disease, making its pTau217 test available by prescription in the U.S. as well as for research globally. The standalone test can also be used in monitoring patients undergoing treatment for the neurodegenerative disease.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH partnered with Newcastle University and the University of Edinburgh to fund a £30 million (US$38 million) study into liver cirrhosis in a bid to provide scientists with new insights into liver health. The partners hope that the study will not only enhance the understanding of nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH) cirrhosis, but also help identify translational biomarkers using a cutting-edge approach called single-cell RNA sequencing to accelerate the development of future therapies.
Ravgen Inc.’s patent litigation strategy could add another $100 million to the company’s coffers, assuming enhanced damages in its suit against Laboratory Corp. of American Holdings (Labcorp) awarded on May 12 are sustained on appeal. The additional damages are on top of the $272.5 million awarded in September for “egregious” violations of Ravgen’s patents on non-invasive prenatal testing methods.
The success of new year’s resolutions for 2023 won’t be known for months to come, but from the vantage point of December, it is easy to see that many large med-tech companies resolved to shed excess weight in 2022 – and did so in dramatic fashion. Some big-name players decided that they would be more agile, and better rewarded by shareholders, with a trimmer portfolio, while others saw value in setting internal operating units free as new companies. As part of our year in review, BioWorld looks at the big deals, the new companies and the impact of all these actions on 2023.
Becton Dickinson & Co. and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (Labcorp)are teaming up to develop, market and commercialize flow cytometry-based companion diagnostics (CDx) for cancer and other diseases. The agreement also paves the way for BD and Labcorp to collaborate with pharmaceutical partners.
The pandemic exponentially amplified the move to more patient-driven health care with at-home monitoring, wearable medical devices and telemedicine. Testing has arguably seen the greatest shift, led by emergency use authorizations (EUA) for dozens of rapid tests for SARS-CoV-2. Laboratory Corp. of American Holdings Inc. (Labcorp) stands to benefit even more from the trend with an EUA for an over-the-counter multiplex respiratory virus test and the launch of an at-home collection kit for testing hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) this week.
With the rates of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) rapidly rising, Glympse Bio Inc. and Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings Inc. (Labcorp) have announced new tests that can assess the risk of the liver condition without the traditional biopsy.
The existence of prior art isn’t always readily evident when companies in the device and diagnostic spaces file patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). As it turns out, literature describing that prior art need not be widely distributed to invalidate a patent as Quest Diagnostics Inc., of Secaucus, N.J., recently discovered, an object lesson for all in the med-tech space that research for prior art must be exhaustive if a patent is to hold up over time.
Quidel Corp. reported a definitive agreement to acquire Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc in a nearly $6 billion deal expected to close in the first half of 2022. The $24.68 per share offered by Quidel represents a nearly 25% premium over Ortho’s closing price as of Dec. 22.Quidel will also assume $2 billion in debt.
In addition, Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (Labcorp) said it would acquire Baltimore-based Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., which offers a portfolio of genomics-based liquid biopsy and tissue-based diagnostic products, for $450 million in cash at closing plus up to $125 million contingent on achieving specific performance milestones. That deal is also expected to close in the first half of 2022, pending approval by both companies’ shareholders.
The FDA has given a green light to Foundation Medicine Inc.’s Foundationone CDx as a companion diagnostic for Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s Alunbrig to identify patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The approval comes as Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (Labcorp) is launching a companion diagnostic to identify NSCLC patients with the KRAS mutation. NSCLC accounts for about 85% of all lung cancers, with an estimated 1.8 million new cases diagnosed each year worldwide. Of those, 3% to 5% carry the ALK gene mutation, which is often missed with standard testing methods.