The Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel
Mackay, Richards et al., Nature
North Carolina State University's Trudy Mackay and her colleagues present the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel, "a community resource for analysis of population genomics and quantitative traits."
Is LabCorp Prepping for an International Acquisition to Bolster Esoteric Play?
October 23, 2009
During LabCorp's third-quarter conference call, a company official dropped a particularly strong hint that the reference lab giant is considering making acquisitions in the esoteric-testing space, while another official suggested a buy would come from overseas.
Stephen Anderson, director of investor relations, said "[t]he acquisition market remains attractive with a number of opportunities to strengthen our scientific capabilities, grow our esoteric testing franchise, and increase our presence in key geographic areas."
According to the earnings, LabCorp's esoteric-testing volume during the quarter grew 9.2 percent year-over-year.
Comments made by CEO David King during the call hinted that an acquisition, if it materializes, could come from overseas. In my coverage of LabCorp's earnings statement yesterday, King said “continued growth” in the firm's esoteric-testing play helped drive a 4.2-percent increase in third-quarter revenue.
During the conference call that morning, he said "we are going to continue to focus on growing the esoteric volumes and fully integrating the esoteric businesses into the test menu.
"[W]e would like to be able to compete for large international trials in addition to being an esoteric niche lab, and to do that we need more international reach in the clinical trials business."
King and Anderson's remarks add fuels to growing speculation that LabCorp is actively considering making an acquisition. For instance, this time last month I wrote that King said the clinical lab market “is still highly fragmented” and suggested that “consolidation opportunities are still very much available to us.”