LabCorp Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Clearstone Central Laboratories

Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings

(LabCorp®) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire

Clearstone Central Laboratories

. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
 
"This acquisition fully combines the complementary strengths of Clearstone and LabCorp’s clinical trials business to support drug development," said David P. King, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LabCorp. "This transaction is an important milestone as it extends our global footprint and service capabilities in key geographies such as Asia Pacific, and advances the Company's companion diagnostics and personalized medicine strategy.”
 
The agreement provides LabCorp with Clearstone's global network of central laboratories and clinical trials management system APOLLO CLPM™, which provides clients with real-time access to global data, strengthened chain of custody, automated sample stability monitoring and guaranteed consistency across all lab sites. The combined entity will have the largest available biomarker assay portfolio with globally harmonized and state-of-the-art testing platforms in areas such as pharmacogenomics, microbiology, immunohistochemistry, allergy testing, cytogenetics and flow cytometry.