Media Coverage

Independent laboratory company Quest Diagnostics and Corewell Health entered a definitive agreement to build a jointly owned lab in Michigan. The Diagnostic Lab of Michigan would be based at the Corewell Health Southfield Center in Southfield, Michigan. It would focus on automated microbiology and high-throughput molecular testing.

Quest Diagnostics said on Monday the US Food and Drug Administration has granted breakthrough device designation for the firm's Haystack minimal residual disease (MRD) test. The tumor-informed, whole-exome sequencing assay detects circulating tumor DNA in blood to identify MRD-positive patients with stage II colorectal cancer who have received curative-intent surgical treatment and may benefit from adjuvant therapy. Quest acquired the test when it bought Haystack Oncology in 2023.

Quest Diagnostics, a provider of diagnostic information services, has been scaling its efforts in the digital pathology space through an ongoing collaboration with PathAI. “Beyond assisting the pathologist in looking at and identifying problem areas on the slide, there are a lot of AI tools that can help the pathologist become more efficient and work more quickly,” said Chad Richards, president of pathology and medical services at Quest Diagnostics.

Quest Diagnostics has completed its acquisition of some clinical testing assets from Spectra Laboratories, a subsidiary of dialysis company Fresenius Medical Care.

During Quest Diagnostics' most recent investor day presentation, President and CEO Jim Davis highlighted the sale of data and data analytics as among the fastest growing businesses within the company. As at Tricore, part of this effort is focused not only on identifying but closing patient care gaps, said David Freeman, VP and general manager of healthcare analytics solutions at the company. Using data generated by a lab, "A health plan can create a standing order for a lab test for a particular patient based on closing a gap in care," he said. If the patient then shows up at a Quest location for another service, "and that standing order exists, we can add that test and close that gap," he said.

A new Quest Diagnostics Lab has opened inside a CVS Pharmacy store in Johnston. Company officials gathered at the Putnam Pike store on Friday morning to celebrate its opening, which took place earlier this month. “This lab opened on July 11, and it is the first Quest Diagnostic Lab in Rhode Island and only the second in the nation,” said CVS Pharmacy Senior Vice President, Store and Pharmacy Operations, Jared Tancrelle.

Quest Diagnostics has launched a new PCR-based diagnostic test for the Oropouche virus, enhancing U.S. preparedness for this emerging tropical disease spreading in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Blood-based biomarker tests are revolutionizing the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease by enabling earlier, faster, and more accessible detection—helping overcome long-standing diagnostic delays, underdiagnosis, and resource constraints. Michael Racke, MD, medical director for neurology at Quest Diagnostics, says that as recently as the 1980s, the telltale plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s found in the brain could only be detected postmortem, and since there was no treatment, diagnosing the disease wasn’t as critical at the time. Now, tests can detect the disease while the patient is alive, offering a chance at diagnosis and treatment.

It's important to note that anything can be toxic in a certain amount, says Jack Kain, PharmD, director of medical affairs and medical science liaison of drug monitoring and toxicology at Quest Diagnostics. Toxicologists measure toxic amounts in a few different ways. “There's an old saying in toxicology, ‘the dose makes the poison,’ which implies, if you take too much of almost anything, even something as simple as water, it can be toxic,” Dr. Kain says. A high dose of some toxins is necessary to be harmful, while small doses of other toxins can be dangerous.

Quest Diagnostics has signed up to offer a blood test that can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, following its FDA clearance earlier this year. Developed by Fujirebio, the Lumipulse G test measures the ratio between specific tau and beta amyloid proteins found in the bloodstream to identify patients likely to have plaque buildups in the brain without requiring them to undergo brain scans or spinal tap procedures.