LabCorp Signs Long-Term Pact With Illumina

Illumina, the San Diego-based sequencing equipment company, has signed a multiyear pact with LabCorp to provide the North Carolina-based national laboratory with its latest sequencing and microarray equipment. The deal was announced not long after LabCorp’s biggest competitor, Quest Diagnostics, entered into similar deals with Illumina and another California firm, Life Technologies Corp. It widens an existing agreement that allows LabCorp access to Illumina’s next-generation sequencing platform and related supplies. LabCorp has been using the technology to develop tests based on recently discovered human leukocyte antigens, which are used for tissue typing in bone marrow and related transplants. “The Illumina next-generation sequencing platform gives LabCorp the flexibility to develop a wide range of molecular tests,” said Mark Brecher, M.D., LabCorp’s chief medical officer. “The HLA typing assays we are developing on Illumina’s family of NGS platforms will provide physicians with the ability to more accurately match bone marrow donors to recipients.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “The agreement seems to be in tandem with Illumina’s mission to enhance cancer research and treatments by expanding the use of the NGS platform,” Zacks said in a recent research report. “We are optimistic about Illumina’s expansion strategy through the enhancement of its portfolio of sequencing products, and development of strategic partnerships with therapeutics and diagnostic services providers.” Illumina’s revenue through the first three quarters of 2013 was more than 20 percent higher than the comparable period in 2012. Its third-quarter revenue was up more than 25 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. Takeaway: Quest and LabCorp have moved forward in locking up deals with cutting-edge providers of sequencing and microarray equipment.