Physicians Choice Laboratory Services (PCLS), the South Carolina-based toxicology and pharmacogenomics lab, is inching into new territory: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). PCLS has acquired San Diego-based MultiGEN Diagnostics for undisclosed terms. Although a relatively tiny operation, MultiGEN has developed a platform that uses the Sanger sequencing method with up to 20 genetic targets in a single analysis, up from two to four targets in past iterations of this test. It also lowered the reagent price point for such an analysis from about $20 an assay to about $2, according to Joe Wiegel, PCLS’s president. The MultiGEN acquisition is currently being fused with a minority stake PCLS recently took in HealthCure, a Michigan-based company that consults with providers on reducing their rate of HAIs. Most of MultiGEN’s staff has been relocated to PCLS headquarters in order to better integrate the operations of the two firms. Several technicians and technologists will be added to its existing staff. “We have an initiative to expand our service offerings to allow us to work closely with hospitals, and HAIs really hit hospitals hard in the pocketbook,” Wiegel said. According to a 2013 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, HAIs cost hospitals at least […]
Physicians Choice Laboratory Services (PCLS), the South Carolina-based toxicology and pharmacogenomics lab, is inching into new territory: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
PCLS has acquired San Diego-based MultiGEN Diagnostics for undisclosed terms. Although a relatively tiny operation, MultiGEN has developed a platform that uses the Sanger sequencing method with up to 20 genetic targets in a single analysis, up from two to four targets in past iterations of this test. It also lowered the reagent price point for such an analysis from about $20 an assay to about $2, according to Joe Wiegel, PCLS’s president.
The MultiGEN acquisition is currently being fused with a minority stake PCLS recently took in HealthCure, a Michigan-based company that consults with providers on reducing their rate of HAIs. Most of MultiGEN’s staff has been relocated to PCLS headquarters in order to better integrate the operations of the two firms. Several technicians and technologists will be added to its existing staff.
“We have an initiative to expand our service offerings to allow us to work closely with hospitals, and HAIs really hit hospitals hard in the pocketbook,” Wiegel said. According to a 2013 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, HAIs cost hospitals at least $10 billion annually to combat and treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that HAIs such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and C. difficile infect about 2 million patients a year, killing about 100,000 of them.
Wiegel envisions integrating MultiGEN assays into HealthCure’s overall product offerings, which includes a focus on long-term suppression of bacteria colonization in hospital settings. He suggested they could be used as part of HealthCure’s environmental assessment of a hospital to determine where harmful bacteria is most highly concentrated. It could also be used to screen incoming patients to determine if they are bringing potentially harmful bacteria into the hospital. Turnaround time for such screenings could be less than one day, he added.
For the moment, MultiGEN-HealthCure will focus on community hospitals, but Wiegel observed that “there is nothing necessarily limiting us to a specific type of hospital.”
Takeaway: Physicians Choice Laboratory Services is using strategic acquisitions to expand its testing portfolio.
