LabCorp
Encyclopedia
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings , more commonly known as LabCorp, is an S&P 500
company headquartered in Burlington
, North Carolina
. It operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, with a United States network of 36 primary laboratories. Before a merger with National Health Laboratory in 1995, the company operated under the name Roche BioMedical. LabCorp performs its largest volume of specialty testing at its Center for Esoteric Testing in Burlington, North Carolina, where the company is headquartered.
LabCorp was an early pioneer of genomic testing using polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) technology, at its Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where it also performs other molecular diagnostics. It also does oncology
testing, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genotyping
and phenotyping.
LabCorp also operates the National Genetics Institute, Inc. (NGI) in Los Angeles, California
which develops PCR testing methods.
LabCorp's Viro-Med facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota
performs real-time PCR molecular microbial testing using tests developed at the NGI.
LabCorp also provides testing in Puerto Rico
and, outside the United States, in three Canadian
provinces.
Labcorp Utilizes 7 PA-31-350's and 1 PC-12 Aircraft on nightly runs from Burlington, NC for use on the east coast.
laboratory owned by the Revlon Health Care Group, and managed by Michael E. Lillig for seven years. Lillig had earlier been with Becton, Dickinson and Company . At National Health Laboratories, Inc. he grew annual sales of the company each year by 43%, with revenue reaching $12 million by the end of his tenure. Lillig then left to found several health-care companies, including Syscor, Inc., Intelysis, Inc., Asterion
, LLC and MetaCyte's 3DR in Louisville, Kentucky
.
exchange. Revlon
retained 24% ownership of the common shares, for the next six years. Revlon had been a publicly traded company since the 1950s, as it was during most of its ownership of National Health Laboratories. But in 1985, Revlon (now ) had been taken over by Ronald Perelman
.
Through early 1995, the National Health Laboratories principal executive offices were located at 4225 Executive Square, Suite 805 in La Jolla, California.
In 1989, the company generated revenue of about US$400 million, with about US$70 million in earnings.
In 1990, the company's revenues reached US$500 million, with over US$70 million in earnings. That year, the company began paying a cash dividend
to shareholders.
In 1991, National Health Laboratories moved from the NASDAQ OTC exchange to the New York Stock Exchange
, where it began to trade under the new ticker symbol NH. Up until that time the company had performed very well, including through the 1990-1991 recession. Its earnings peaked that year at almost US$90 million, and its stock price had risen from its low within the prior few years by several-fold.
However, beginning in 1991 the company became embroiled in Operation "Labscam," a nationwide crackdown on fraud in the health-care system, initiated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, California
. The charges were that the company and others routinely submitted false claims to the government health-care agencies Medicare
and Medicaid
for unnecessary tests which physicians had never ordered. In 1992, National Health Laboratories became the first of the companies to be prosecuted in the government operation.
In 1992, the company reported revenues of over US$720 million, however with earnings of only US$40 million. The small gain that year reflected a fourth quarter charge of US$80 million, which the company paid in a settlement agreement with state and federal governments related to the LABSCAM investigation. The total payments made by National Health Laboratories in the settlement came to US$111 million that year, and ultimately reached US$173 million.
In 1993, revenues were up to US$761 million, with new peak earnings of nearly US$113 million. By that time the company had 22 major laboratories. The stock price reached a new all-time high in 1993, which became the peak for the next couple of years, and the company was added to the S&P MidCap 400 list.
By 1994, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
Inc. then owned the Revlon Holdings Group's former 24 percent of National Health Laboratories Holdings. That company was a distributor of licorice extract and chocolate, which had previously been taken over, along with Revlon, by Ronald Perelman in the 1980s.5
On May 4, 1994, National Health Laboratories announced that it would acquire Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc. (formerly ) of Nashville, Tennessee
. In 1993, Allied generated revenues of US$163 million. The former President and CEO of Allied Clinical, Haywood D. Cochrane, Jr., then became Vice Chairman of National Health Laboratories. In order to complete the cash transaction, the company discontinued paying its dividend at that time.
By the end of 1994, the company had run into financial difficulty again, as it struggled through the economic soft landing that year. Its earnings dropped by over two-thirds, to only US$30 million. The stock never traded that year at more than half of its 1993 peak, and at its 1994 low, it was down by nearly two-thirds from the all-time high.
of National Health Laboratories. Following the merger, Maher relinquished those positions, and instead became Chairman of the new company, succeeding the financier Ronald O. Perelman in that position. Perelman received about US$100 million from the deal, which made the new company the largest blood-testing company in the United States.
The merged company created revenues of US$1.7 billion. National Health Laboratories already held long-term debt of US$351 million. Together with the Roche debt, the combined companies owed US$590 million prior to the merger. Another US$288 million was added to help finance the payout to shareholders. By year-end 1995, the new company's total debt reached US$959 million.
Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been created by and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche
, Inc., the American arm of the Swiss medical conglomerate, Roche Holding, Limited. Before 1982, the core of Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been Biomedical Reference Laboratories, which dated from the late 1960s, and was located in Burlington, North Carolina. That core company had become publicly traded in 1979. Hoffman-La Roche acquired it for US$163.5 million in 1982 and then merged it with all of its laboratories, and incorporated the merged company that year as Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. in Burlington. By the early 1990s, Roche Biomedical had become one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States, with US$600 million in sales.
By 1993 Roche Biomedical Laboratories had revenues of US$712 million, with 17 major laboratories. Dr. James Powell was President of Roche Biomedical, and after the merger with National Health Laboratories he became President and CEO of the new company, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, which then relocated from La Jolla, California to the Roche Biomedical headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina. Hoffmann-La Roche also contributed US$186.7 million in cash to the deal, and retained 49.9 interest in the new merged company.
By year-end 1995, the new Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings suffered a marginal loss of a few million dollars. The stock price dropped by almost half again through the year, to within 10% of its all-time low since going public a half dozen years earlier. By early the next year, it broke marginally below that level, and set a new all-time low.
In 2000, LabCorp generated revenues of US$1.9 billion with over 18,000 employees.
In December 2001, LabCorp became the exclusive marketer for genomics and proteomics
predictive cancer test products made by Myriad Genetics
, Inc.
In 2005, LabCorp's revenues totaled $3.3B; in 2006, revenues were $3.6B; and in 2007, revenues reached $4.1B.
In November 2006, LabCorp acquired Litholink Corporation, a kidney stone analysis laboratory.
In December 2007, LabCorp acquired Tandem Labs, a Contract Research Organization (CRO), headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT.
In June 2009, LabCorp acquired Monogram Biosciences
, a diagnostic lab specializing in HIV resistance testing, headquartered in South San Francisco, CA.
In December 2010, LabCorp formally acquired the Genzyme Genetics, formerly a division of Genzyme.
S&P 500
The S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index published since 1957 of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock...
company headquartered in Burlington
Burlington, North Carolina
Burlington is a city in Alamance and Guilford counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Alamance County, in which most of the city is located. The population was 49,963 at the 2010...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. It operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, with a United States network of 36 primary laboratories. Before a merger with National Health Laboratory in 1995, the company operated under the name Roche BioMedical. LabCorp performs its largest volume of specialty testing at its Center for Esoteric Testing in Burlington, North Carolina, where the company is headquartered.
LabCorp was an early pioneer of genomic testing using polymerase chain reaction
Polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
(PCR) technology, at its Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where it also performs other molecular diagnostics. It also does oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
testing, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genotyping
Genotyping
Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up of an individual by examining the individual's DNA sequence using biological assays and comparing it to another individual's sequence or a reference sequence. It reveals the alleles an individual has inherited from their...
and phenotyping.
LabCorp also operates the National Genetics Institute, Inc. (NGI) in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
which develops PCR testing methods.
LabCorp's Viro-Med facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
performs real-time PCR molecular microbial testing using tests developed at the NGI.
LabCorp also provides testing in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and, outside the United States, in three Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
provinces.
Labcorp Utilizes 7 PA-31-350's and 1 PC-12 Aircraft on nightly runs from Burlington, NC for use on the east coast.
Revlon
National Health Laboratories Incorporated began in 1978. The company was a national blood and pathologyPathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
laboratory owned by the Revlon Health Care Group, and managed by Michael E. Lillig for seven years. Lillig had earlier been with Becton, Dickinson and Company . At National Health Laboratories, Inc. he grew annual sales of the company each year by 43%, with revenue reaching $12 million by the end of his tenure. Lillig then left to found several health-care companies, including Syscor, Inc., Intelysis, Inc., Asterion
Asterion
In Greek mythology, Asterion denotes two sacred kings of Crete. The first Asterion or Asterius , the son of Tectamus or son of Neleus and Chloris by the Greeks called "king" of Crete, was the consort of Europa and stepfather of her sons by Zeus, who had to assume the form of the Cretan bull of...
, LLC and MetaCyte's 3DR in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
.
National Health Laboratories, Inc.
In 1988, National Health Laboratories became publicly traded on the NASDAQNASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
exchange. Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
retained 24% ownership of the common shares, for the next six years. Revlon had been a publicly traded company since the 1950s, as it was during most of its ownership of National Health Laboratories. But in 1985, Revlon (now ) had been taken over by Ronald Perelman
Ronald Perelman
Ronald Owen Perelman is an American business magnate. Through his company MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., he has invested in various companies in grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.-Early...
.
Through early 1995, the National Health Laboratories principal executive offices were located at 4225 Executive Square, Suite 805 in La Jolla, California.
In 1989, the company generated revenue of about US$400 million, with about US$70 million in earnings.
In 1990, the company's revenues reached US$500 million, with over US$70 million in earnings. That year, the company began paying a cash dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
to shareholders.
In 1991, National Health Laboratories moved from the NASDAQ OTC exchange to the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, where it began to trade under the new ticker symbol NH. Up until that time the company had performed very well, including through the 1990-1991 recession. Its earnings peaked that year at almost US$90 million, and its stock price had risen from its low within the prior few years by several-fold.
However, beginning in 1991 the company became embroiled in Operation "Labscam," a nationwide crackdown on fraud in the health-care system, initiated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. The charges were that the company and others routinely submitted false claims to the government health-care agencies Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
and Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
for unnecessary tests which physicians had never ordered. In 1992, National Health Laboratories became the first of the companies to be prosecuted in the government operation.
In 1992, the company reported revenues of over US$720 million, however with earnings of only US$40 million. The small gain that year reflected a fourth quarter charge of US$80 million, which the company paid in a settlement agreement with state and federal governments related to the LABSCAM investigation. The total payments made by National Health Laboratories in the settlement came to US$111 million that year, and ultimately reached US$173 million.
In 1993, revenues were up to US$761 million, with new peak earnings of nearly US$113 million. By that time the company had 22 major laboratories. The stock price reached a new all-time high in 1993, which became the peak for the next couple of years, and the company was added to the S&P MidCap 400 list.
National Health Laboratories Holdings
On March 8, 1994 National Health Laboratories Inc. reorganized as a holding company, National Health Laboratories Holdings Inc.By 1994, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings
MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc. is the principal holding company used by and wholly owned by businessman and private equity investor, Ronald Perelman...
Inc. then owned the Revlon Holdings Group's former 24 percent of National Health Laboratories Holdings. That company was a distributor of licorice extract and chocolate, which had previously been taken over, along with Revlon, by Ronald Perelman in the 1980s.5
On May 4, 1994, National Health Laboratories announced that it would acquire Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc. (formerly ) of Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. In 1993, Allied generated revenues of US$163 million. The former President and CEO of Allied Clinical, Haywood D. Cochrane, Jr., then became Vice Chairman of National Health Laboratories. In order to complete the cash transaction, the company discontinued paying its dividend at that time.
By the end of 1994, the company had run into financial difficulty again, as it struggled through the economic soft landing that year. Its earnings dropped by over two-thirds, to only US$30 million. The stock never traded that year at more than half of its 1993 peak, and at its 1994 low, it was down by nearly two-thirds from the all-time high.
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings
On April 28, 1995 National Health Laboratories Holdings Inc. merged with Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. and changed its name to Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings. It began trading under its new ticker symbol LH. Shareholders of National Health Laboratories received 0.72 shares of the new company, plus $5.60 in cash, for a 50.1 percent interest in the new company. At the time, James R. Maher was President and Chief Executive OfficerChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of National Health Laboratories. Following the merger, Maher relinquished those positions, and instead became Chairman of the new company, succeeding the financier Ronald O. Perelman in that position. Perelman received about US$100 million from the deal, which made the new company the largest blood-testing company in the United States.
The merged company created revenues of US$1.7 billion. National Health Laboratories already held long-term debt of US$351 million. Together with the Roche debt, the combined companies owed US$590 million prior to the merger. Another US$288 million was added to help finance the payout to shareholders. By year-end 1995, the new company's total debt reached US$959 million.
Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been created by and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche
Hoffmann-La Roche
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange....
, Inc., the American arm of the Swiss medical conglomerate, Roche Holding, Limited. Before 1982, the core of Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been Biomedical Reference Laboratories, which dated from the late 1960s, and was located in Burlington, North Carolina. That core company had become publicly traded in 1979. Hoffman-La Roche acquired it for US$163.5 million in 1982 and then merged it with all of its laboratories, and incorporated the merged company that year as Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. in Burlington. By the early 1990s, Roche Biomedical had become one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States, with US$600 million in sales.
By 1993 Roche Biomedical Laboratories had revenues of US$712 million, with 17 major laboratories. Dr. James Powell was President of Roche Biomedical, and after the merger with National Health Laboratories he became President and CEO of the new company, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, which then relocated from La Jolla, California to the Roche Biomedical headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina. Hoffmann-La Roche also contributed US$186.7 million in cash to the deal, and retained 49.9 interest in the new merged company.
By year-end 1995, the new Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings suffered a marginal loss of a few million dollars. The stock price dropped by almost half again through the year, to within 10% of its all-time low since going public a half dozen years earlier. By early the next year, it broke marginally below that level, and set a new all-time low.
In 2000, LabCorp generated revenues of US$1.9 billion with over 18,000 employees.
In December 2001, LabCorp became the exclusive marketer for genomics and proteomics
Proteomics
Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, as they are the main components of the physiological metabolic pathways of cells. The term "proteomics" was first coined in 1997 to make an analogy with...
predictive cancer test products made by Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics, Inc. is a molecular diagnostic company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic basis of human disease and the role that genes play in the onset, progression and treatment of disease...
, Inc.
In 2005, LabCorp's revenues totaled $3.3B; in 2006, revenues were $3.6B; and in 2007, revenues reached $4.1B.
In November 2006, LabCorp acquired Litholink Corporation, a kidney stone analysis laboratory.
In December 2007, LabCorp acquired Tandem Labs, a Contract Research Organization (CRO), headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT.
In June 2009, LabCorp acquired Monogram Biosciences
Monogram Biosciences
Monogram Biosciences Inc. , a wholly owned subsidiary of LabCorp, is an international biotechnology laboratory located in South San Francisco, California, USA...
, a diagnostic lab specializing in HIV resistance testing, headquartered in South San Francisco, CA.
In December 2010, LabCorp formally acquired the Genzyme Genetics, formerly a division of Genzyme.
External links
- LabCorp website
- LabCorp Locations & Reviews
- LabCorp Profile at Wikinvest