NEW YORK — Laboratory Corporation of America said this week that effective Dec. 1, it will be the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama exclusive national laboratory in the insurer’s Preferred Medical Laboratory Program and the only Preferred Medical Laboratory Plus provider in its outpatient laboratory network. Covered lab services provided by Labcorp and other contracted Preferred Medical Laboratories will be processed at the in-network level of benefits.
The company also announced that it has completed its $237.5 million acquisition of select assets of BioReference Health. Originally announced in March, the acquisition includes BioReference’s laboratory testing businesses focused on clinical diagnostics and reproductive and women's health in the United States outside of New York and New Jersey, including certain patient service centers, customer contracts, and operating assets, which currently generate approximately $100 million in annual revenue.
Hologic said last week that its board of directors has authorized a $1.5 billion stock repurchase program with a five-year term. The company said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing that the authorization is in addition to a prior repurchase authorization that had $190 million remaining as of Sept. 12. The firm announced two years ago that it had authorized a $1 billion stock repurchase program, also with a five-year term.
Quest Diagnostics said this week that it has completed its acquisition of select assets from Allina Health for an undisclosed amount. Under the deal, which was originally announced in June, Quest will offer its laboratory services to Allina Health clinic physicians and outreach providers in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Agilent Technologies said this week that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $.24 per share of its common stock, payable on Oct. 23 to shareholders of record on Oct. 1.
Separately, Agilent said this week that it has completed its purchase of Canadian contract development and manufacturing organization Biovectra. The deal was initially announced in July and valued at $925 million. Biovectra develops and manufactures biologics, highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients, and other targeted pharmaceutical ingredients. It will now be included in Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group.
Abbott's board this week declared a quarterly common dividend of $.55 per share, payable on Nov. 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct. 15.
PAVmed said this week that it will deconsolidate Lucid Diagnostics from its financial statements as part of an effort to regain compliance with the Nasdaq's listing requirements. As a result, PAVmed will no longer report consolidated financial results that reflect Lucid's operating losses. Going forward, the value of Lucid's common stock held by PAVmed will be reported as an asset on the firm's balance sheet. PAVmed remains Lucid's largest shareholder, and the deconsolidation does not affect its holdings in Lucid.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.