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LabCorp (LH) to Offer Monkeypox Test, Double CDC's Capacity
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Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH - Free Report) , popularly known as LabCorp, recently announced its plans to initiate monkeypox testing. This test will be done using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) orthopoxvirus test, which detects all non-smallpox-related orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox.
This initiative by LabCorp aims to help control the outbreak of monkeypox. According to LabCorp, this effort is part of the CDC’s commitment to quickly increase monkeypox testing access and capacity in every community during the ongoing outbreak.
With this, Labcorp will be the first national laboratory to offer this polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, verified for the CDC. Also, LabCorp is the first to launch a more automated assay option.
While monkeypox is spreading rapidly in the United States, LabCorp’s latest initiative to do its testing should see rapid market adoption, contributing to the company’s LabCorp Diagnostics business.
More on the News
This test for monkeypox will be offered through LabCorp’s largest laboratory in the United States. It also has the ability to accept specimens from LabCorp customers as well as overflow from public laboratories across the United States using its significant transportation and logistics capabilities. Eventually, Labcorp expects to increase capacity to up to 10,000 tests per week, doubling the current capacity provided through CDC's Laboratory Response Network (LRN).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
According to LabCorp, the increase in testing capacity will leverage its established relationships with the clinics, hospitals, and health care providers it serves. LabCorp will use electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) to report results to jurisdictions as outlined in the CDC reporting guidance.
LabCorp Targets High-Growth Areas
In its efforts to identify and expand in high-growth opportunity areas, LabCorp recently unveiled a new risk scoring test for patients with advanced liver fibrosis due to NASH. The Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) test, developed by Siemens Healthineers, evaluates the risk of advanced liver fibrosis progression in individuals and facilitates earlier intervention to support better patient outcomes. In March 2022, LabCorp became the first U.S. commercial laboratory to offer Immundiagnostik, Inc.’s new test that helps individuals to identify and quantify unintended gluten consumption. This test is expected to help physicians in the assessment of true “refractory” celiac disease by ruling out gluten exposure as a cause of the prolonged symptoms.
In late 2021, LabCorp acquired an autoimmune business unit from Myriad Genetics, including Vectra, a rheumatoid arthritis assay. This is expected to strengthen the company’s position in rheumatoid arthritis, which the CDC predicts will impact roughly 25% of adults in the United States by 2040. Additionally, in women’s health, another focus area, LabCorp acquired Ovia Health in August 2021, a digital health platform to seek information and support on family planning, pregnancy, and parenting. The transaction extends Labcorp’s position as a go-to source for women’s health insights.
In Oncology, another high-growth area, LabCorp signed a definitive agreement to acquire Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) in December 2021. This buyout will expand LabCorp’s oncology portfolio of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based genomic profiling capabilities, placing the company at the forefront of improving patient outcomes in oncology. On its first-quarter 2022 earnings call, LabCorp noted that it has closed the PGDx acquisition and that the integration process is progressing well. Other notable offerings in the company’s oncology test menu include the OmniSeq INSIGHT, a pan-cancer tissue-based sequencing test for individuals with late-stage solid tumors, and the clonoSEQ, the first and only FDA-cleared test for monitoring residual blood cancer.
In 2021, LabCorp opened an integrated laboratory in Singapore, which strengthened the company’s bioanalytical services in the Asia-Pacific region. In February 2022, the company opened a new diagnostics laboratory in South Bend, IN.
Share Price Performance
Over the past six months, LabCorp has underperformed its industry. Shares of LabCorp have declined 16.4% compared with the industry’s 11.9% fall.
Zacks Rank and Key Picks
Currently, LabCorp carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (AMN - Free Report) , Patterson Companies, Inc. (PDCO - Free Report) and ShockWave Medical, Inc. (SWAV - Free Report) .
AMN Healthcare, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present, has an estimated long-term growth rate of 1.1%. AMN’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 15.6%.
AMN Healthcarehas gained 18.2% against the industry’s 47.8% fall in the past year.
Patterson Companies, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, has an estimated long-term growth rate of 9.6%. PDCO’s earnings surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 16.5%.
Patterson Companies has gained 0.7% against the industry’s 10.1% fall over the past year.
ShockWave Medical, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 at present, has an estimated growth rate of 44.9% for 2023. SWAV’s earnings surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 189.9%.
ShockWave Medical has gained 5.9% against the industry’s 24.9% fall over the past year.
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LabCorp (LH) to Offer Monkeypox Test, Double CDC's Capacity
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH - Free Report) , popularly known as LabCorp, recently announced its plans to initiate monkeypox testing. This test will be done using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) orthopoxvirus test, which detects all non-smallpox-related orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox.
This initiative by LabCorp aims to help control the outbreak of monkeypox. According to LabCorp, this effort is part of the CDC’s commitment to quickly increase monkeypox testing access and capacity in every community during the ongoing outbreak.
With this, Labcorp will be the first national laboratory to offer this polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, verified for the CDC. Also, LabCorp is the first to launch a more automated assay option.
While monkeypox is spreading rapidly in the United States, LabCorp’s latest initiative to do its testing should see rapid market adoption, contributing to the company’s LabCorp Diagnostics business.
More on the News
This test for monkeypox will be offered through LabCorp’s largest laboratory in the United States. It also has the ability to accept specimens from LabCorp customers as well as overflow from public laboratories across the United States using its significant transportation and logistics capabilities. Eventually, Labcorp expects to increase capacity to up to 10,000 tests per week, doubling the current capacity provided through CDC's Laboratory Response Network (LRN).
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
According to LabCorp, the increase in testing capacity will leverage its established relationships with the clinics, hospitals, and health care providers it serves. LabCorp will use electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) to report results to jurisdictions as outlined in the CDC reporting guidance.
LabCorp Targets High-Growth Areas
In its efforts to identify and expand in high-growth opportunity areas, LabCorp recently unveiled a new risk scoring test for patients with advanced liver fibrosis due to NASH. The Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) test, developed by Siemens Healthineers, evaluates the risk of advanced liver fibrosis progression in individuals and facilitates earlier intervention to support better patient outcomes. In March 2022, LabCorp became the first U.S. commercial laboratory to offer Immundiagnostik, Inc.’s new test that helps individuals to identify and quantify unintended gluten consumption. This test is expected to help physicians in the assessment of true “refractory” celiac disease by ruling out gluten exposure as a cause of the prolonged symptoms.
In late 2021, LabCorp acquired an autoimmune business unit from Myriad Genetics, including Vectra, a rheumatoid arthritis assay. This is expected to strengthen the company’s position in rheumatoid arthritis, which the CDC predicts will impact roughly 25% of adults in the United States by 2040. Additionally, in women’s health, another focus area, LabCorp acquired Ovia Health in August 2021, a digital health platform to seek information and support on family planning, pregnancy, and parenting. The transaction extends Labcorp’s position as a go-to source for women’s health insights.
In Oncology, another high-growth area, LabCorp signed a definitive agreement to acquire Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) in December 2021. This buyout will expand LabCorp’s oncology portfolio of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based genomic profiling capabilities, placing the company at the forefront of improving patient outcomes in oncology. On its first-quarter 2022 earnings call, LabCorp noted that it has closed the PGDx acquisition and that the integration process is progressing well. Other notable offerings in the company’s oncology test menu include the OmniSeq INSIGHT, a pan-cancer tissue-based sequencing test for individuals with late-stage solid tumors, and the clonoSEQ, the first and only FDA-cleared test for monitoring residual blood cancer.
In 2021, LabCorp opened an integrated laboratory in Singapore, which strengthened the company’s bioanalytical services in the Asia-Pacific region. In February 2022, the company opened a new diagnostics laboratory in South Bend, IN.
Share Price Performance
Over the past six months, LabCorp has underperformed its industry. Shares of LabCorp have declined 16.4% compared with the industry’s 11.9% fall.
Zacks Rank and Key Picks
Currently, LabCorp carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. (AMN - Free Report) , Patterson Companies, Inc. (PDCO - Free Report) and ShockWave Medical, Inc. (SWAV - Free Report) .
AMN Healthcare, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present, has an estimated long-term growth rate of 1.1%. AMN’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 15.6%.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
AMN Healthcarehas gained 18.2% against the industry’s 47.8% fall in the past year.
Patterson Companies, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, has an estimated long-term growth rate of 9.6%. PDCO’s earnings surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 16.5%.
Patterson Companies has gained 0.7% against the industry’s 10.1% fall over the past year.
ShockWave Medical, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 at present, has an estimated growth rate of 44.9% for 2023. SWAV’s earnings surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 189.9%.
ShockWave Medical has gained 5.9% against the industry’s 24.9% fall over the past year.