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14 LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA14 LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
Our Sweet Spot
In The
Two Trillion D
Why has LabCorp
placed a major strategic
emphasis on growing its
position in personalized
medicine and companion
diagnostics?
Because these solutions offer
great potential to improve
patient care. Since modern
medicine began, doctors have
seen some patients respond
well to certain treatments while
other patients did not, and
some have a bad reaction to a
medication that others can
tolerate. Today it’s exciting to
see how advances in genomic
testing can predict a patient’s
response and help avoid those
negative outcomes. To better
patient outcomes and reduce
health care costs, we must
expand our ability to tailor
medications and treatments
to the unique characteristics
of each patient.
Personalized medicine
appears to have made the
most headway in infec-
tious disease and cancer
treatment. Do you see
potential to expand it to
other medical conditions?
I’m confi dent that our ability
to target care to specifi c
genetic characteristics will
continually improve. Our
sophisticated tests help
avoid ineffective treatments
and target therapy correctly.
As researchers learn more
about the genetic component
of other diseases, particularly
chronic conditions such as
diabetes and cardiovascular
disease, we will be able to
help physicians target the
correct treatment approach
from the outset, provide
better care to the patient
and eliminate unnecessary
cost. That adds up as a win
for patients, physicians,
payers and LabCorp.
Even in a challenging
economic climate,
LabCorp has continued
to deliver strong operating
results. What’s behind
that success, and are
there opportunities for
greater improvements
going forward?
We have continued to target
sales efforts toward providers
who care for patients who
require more testing and to
demonstrate the value of
esoteric tests in improving
care. In addition, we are
achieving operational effi -
ciencies. We’ve placed
strong emphasis on auto-
mating routine laboratory
tasks through process
improvement and robotics,
and we are starting to see
the benefi ts of these initia-
tives. I’m pleased with our
progress and confi dent that
we can achieve more.
During the last decade
you’ve executed a series
of strategic acquisitions
of laboratory companies
with specialized esoteric
expertise. What’s your
approach to identifying
acquisitions that offer the
most potential for growth?
We fi rst look for companies
that have excellent scientifi c
capabilities and are meeting
a well-defi ned patient need.
Monogram Biosciences,
which we acquired in 2009,
is a good example of a com-
pany on the leading edge
of molecular testing with a
great clinical reputation. It
has the proven proprietary
Trofi le® test and the innovative
HERmark® test. As we con-
tinue to look at acquisitions
in the esoteric space, our
primary considerations are
whether the asset addresses
an unmet medical need and
whether it will improve patient
health and outcomes.
Q
A
14 LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA