Quest Diagnostics announced it acquired Blueprint Genetics in an all-cash equity transaction.
Quest and Blueprint Genetics said the alliance would broaden access to actionable insights in genetic and rare diseases, improving patient care and pharmaceutical drug research and development.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Blueprint Genetics is a specialty genetic testing company with deep expertise in gene variant interpretation based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) and proprietary bioinformatics.
“The great challenge with genetic testing is generating quality, actionable and broadly accessible insights from vast quantities of sequenced genetic data,” said Steve Rusckowski, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Quest Diagnostics. “Blueprint Genetics has developed a proven model for delivering highly specialized genetic insights that we believe we can scale to serve new patient populations with unmet clinical needs. The addition of Blueprint Genetics strengthens and extends the Quest value proposition in genetics, delivering on our Accelerate growth strategy and vision of a healthier world,” said Rusckowski.
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Through its Advanced Diagnostics offerings, Quest specializes in combining state-of-the-art technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, with higher-order interpretative expertise and digital customer enablement. Helsinki, Finland-based Blueprint Genetics brings to Quest high-touch service in variant interpretation and reporting and associated sequencing and bioinformatics, which complement and extend its existing genetics leadership.
“As the leader in Advanced Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics understands that robust bioinformatics and consultative expertise are essential to fast, accurate and cost-efficient data interpretation,” said Carrie Eglinton Manner, senior vice president, Advanced Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics. “Blueprint Genetics brings to Quest a proven platform in specialty genetics – especially gene variant interpretation and reporting – that powerfully differentiates our Advanced Diagnostics offering.”
Quest said that over time, the acquisition is expected to yield new capabilities for service providers specializing in rare disease and neurology, particularly pediatric and academic hospitals. The two organizations also envision members of the Quest Diagnostics Global Diagnostic Network and its pharmaceutical and in vitro diagnostic collaborators will benefit from Blueprint Genetics’ capabilities.
“Blueprint Genetics prides itself on resolving the most challenging genetic and rare disease cases to improve patient outcomes,” said Tommi Lehtonen, who will continue to lead the company as vice president and general manager, reporting to Manner.
Genetic testing can aid in diagnosing many rare diseases as well as identifying future risk of and treatment cancers and other conditions. According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 7,000 rare diseases exist and as many as 30 million Americans have a rare disease.