Labcorp Inks Deal To Buy Personal Genome Diagnostics For Up To $575 Mln

(RTTNews) - Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH), a life sciences company, said on Thursday that it has signed an agreement to buy privately-held Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. in a bid to expand its oncology portfolio of next-generation sequencing-based genomic profiling capabilities.

Personal Genome Diagnostics, or PGDx, is a provider of comprehensive liquid biopsy and tissue-based genomic products and services.

As part of the deal, Labcorp will pay $450 million in cash at closing and up to an additional $125 million on achieving future performance milestones.

The transaction, which is scheduled to close in the first half of 2022, is expected to be slightly dilutive to Labcorp's adjusted earnings per share over the next two years and provide returns in excess of its cost of capital by year five.

"The addition of PGDx and its technology complements and accelerates Labcorp's existing liquid biopsy capabilities and expands Labcorp's leading oncology portfolio of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based genomic profiling capabilities, positioning Labcorp at the forefront of driving better patient outcomes in oncology," the acquirer said in a statement.

Adam Schechter, chairman and CEO of Labcorp, commented: "PGDx's comprehensive portfolio of next-generation sequencing products will meaningfully add to our breadth of capabilities, in line with our strategic priority to lead in oncology. PGDx's technology is well positioned in an important segment with strong growth prospects..."

Meanwhile, for fiscal 2021, Personal Genome Diagnostics revenues are expected to be approximately $22 million and projected revenues for 2022 are anticipated to grow to nearly $40 million.