By Ron Shinkman, Editor, Laboratory Industry Report
Quest Diagnostics and Quintiles have moved further in their business relationship, announcing a joint venture that will focus on clinical trials for the biopharmaceutical sector.
The new Quest/Quintiles venture is called Q² Solutions, and follows on an announcement earlier this year that the two companies would enter into a collaborative agreement. Q²’s client roster includes all of the world’s largest drug companies. The combined annual revenue from Quintiles and Quest is about $575 million. Quintiles owns a 60 percent stake in the two companies that comprise the joint venture, and Quest owns the remaining 40 percent. Its U.S. headquarters is in Durham, NC. Q²’s chief executive officer, Costa Panagos, was formerly senior vice president and head of labs and cardiac safety services at Quintiles.
Along with the clinical trials component, Q² will also focus on patient recruitment and retention, clinical trial design and companion diagnostic development and commercialization.
“Clinical laboratory services are central to advances in genomics, precision medicine and drug development. Q² Solutions is well positioned to generate significant advances in these areas to benefit biopharmaceutical customers and patients,” said Steve Rusckowski, Quest’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “This transaction is consistent with Quest’s five-point strategy, because it allows us to maximize the value of our clinical trials assets in a capital-efficient manner while refocusing on our core diagnostic information services business.”
The Q² venture is in part a response to LabCorp’s recent acquisition of pharmaceutical firm Covance in a $6.2 billion deal.