NEW YORK (360Dx) – The US Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed Sequenom on Feb. 7, Laboratory Corporation of America said in its Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2017. The SEC issued the subpoena as part of its investigation into trading activity of Sequenom’s shares at the time of an announcement in July 2016 that LabCorp was acquiring Sequenom. The commission issued a similar subpoena to LabCorp on March 7, the company said, adding that it is cooperating with the requests.
Quest has completed its previously announced agreement to buy PeaceHealth's outreach laboratory services and manage 11 PeaceHealth labs. Under a definitive agreement, Quest will acquire the not-for-profit healthcare system's outreach lab service operation. Under a professional laboratory services agreement, Quest will manage 11 labs that PeaceHealth will continue to own. The labs serve PeaceHealth's medical centers in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
Laboratory Corporation of America completed its previously announced acquisitions of the Mount Sinai Health System Clinical Outreach Laboratories and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories. Mount Sinai will continue to provide laboratory testing for patients registered at its hospitals and ambulatory facilities, and for physicians operating professional practices for anatomic pathology, molecular pathology, and genetics.
Meanwhile, as a result of its PAML acquisition, LabCorp assumes PAML’s ownership interests in several joint ventures: Colorado Laboratory Services, Kentucky Laboratory Services, MountainStar Clinical Laboratories, PACLAB Network Laboratories, and Tri-Cities Laboratory. PAML, as a LabCorp subsidiary, also acquired assets of Alpha Medical Laboratories, a former PAML-affiliated joint venture, from its hospital owner.
Medicare contractor First Coast Service Options revised its local coverage determination for gene expression profiling panels for the management of breast cancer treatment to include Agendia’s MammaPrint test, Agendia said. First Coast is the Medicare contractor for Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The revised LCD became effective on March 17.
Metabolon and the Anti-Doping Laboratory Qatar have entered a collaboration to establish the firm's metabolomics platform in ADLQ's Doha laboratory and to serve academic and nonprofit organizations throughout 13 countries in the Middle East. Development of the platform has started and biological samples are expected to be received by the fourth quarter of this year. ADLQ will promote Metabolons’ technology and precision medicine products for research use, and support population health studies in the region.
EKF Diagnostics said this week that it’s expanding the distribution of its Procalcitonin LiquiColor Test into Eastern Europe, Middle East, and APAC regions. Procalcitonin, a marker for bacterial infection and sepsis, is now widely recognized as an important adjunct marker in sepsis diagnosis which aids in differentiating viral from bacterial infections, the firm said.
EKF noted that it has started to see significant interest in PCT testing within the Asia Pacific region, and that it is working to introduce PCT into hospitals with three undisclosed major distributors covering the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The firm’s LiquiColor reagents are optimized for use with chemistry analyzers.
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