In a bid to expand its role as a provider of women’s health care services, Quest Diagnostics has entered into a strategic alliance with Hologic Inc. Hologic, which is based in Bedford, Mass., focuses primarily on women’s health, with diagnostics aimed at gynecological, skeletal, and breast health. The joint alliance will last for five years and is nonexclusive. It will focus on broadening Quest’s offerings of Hologic’s APTIMA testing line, which focuses on sexually transmitted infections, including assays for the human papillomavirus, HPV genotyping, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas vaginalis. The assays home in on overexpressed RNA that are linked to persistent HPV infections and the development of cervical cancer. The APTIMA tests are considered by the medical community to be more reliable than DNA-based testing for HPV infections. The companies also will work on developing new test products, although no specifics were provided. Quest spokesperson Wendy Bost said the companies planned to set up joint research and development and marketing committees to “explore areas to better serve unmet diagnostic needs in women’s health.” Rob Cascella, Hologic’s chief executive officer, effused about the agreement in a statement. “This collaboration represents a potentially important new chapter in women’s health diagnostics. Quest Diagnostics’ […]
In a bid to expand its role as a provider of women’s health care services, Quest Diagnostics has entered into a strategic alliance with Hologic Inc.
Hologic, which is based in Bedford, Mass., focuses primarily on women’s health, with diagnostics aimed at gynecological, skeletal, and breast health.
The joint alliance will last for five years and is nonexclusive. It will focus on broadening Quest’s offerings of Hologic’s APTIMA testing line, which focuses on sexually transmitted infections, including assays for the human papillomavirus, HPV genotyping, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas vaginalis. The assays home in on overexpressed RNA that are linked to persistent HPV infections and the development of cervical cancer. The APTIMA tests are considered by the medical community to be more reliable than DNA-based testing for HPV infections.
The companies also will work on developing new test products, although no specifics were provided. Quest spokesperson Wendy Bost said the companies planned to set up joint research and development and marketing committees to “explore areas to better serve unmet diagnostic needs in women’s health.”
Rob Cascella, Hologic’s chief executive officer, effused about the agreement in a statement. “This collaboration represents a potentially important new chapter in women’s health diagnostics. Quest Diagnostics’ strong capabilities in diagnostic information services and laboratory and interpretive consulting, when combined with Hologic’s technical expertise and product excellence, holds the potential for us to develop new capabilities for serving unmet clinical needs for women.”
Harmonic Diagnostic Partnership
Peter Francis, president of Clinical Laboratory Sales Training LLC in Woodstock, Md., considers the joint alliance a “harmonic diagnostic partnership,” noting that the market is robust.
“In the continuing effort to treat disease early and reduce the death rate, demand for women’s health testing should continue to rise—and the strategic vendor alliance between Quest Diagnostics and Hologic appears to be a positive one,” he said.
Francis noted that Hologic’s acquisition of Gen-Probe last year helped boosted its research and development capabilities and may have made it a more attractive partner for Quest. Gen-Probe helped Hologic in being able to better detect the herpes simplex virus and gave it solid chlamydia and gonorrhea assays, he said.
