Laboratory Supply Company (LABSCO), the largest privately held supplier of diagnostic instrumentation and clinical laboratory products to hospitals, physician office laboratories, reference labs and other non-acute care settings in the United States, announced it has entered into an agreement with Cepheid to become Cepheid's exclusive distribution partner for its GeneXpert Systems and tests in the US acute care hospital market for institutions with less than 150 beds. The agreement also gives LABSCO non-exclusive rights to distribute Cepheid's products to all care settings in the non-hospital market.
“We are very pleased to represent Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems and tests as we feel that they represent the leading edge in molecular diagnostics solutions,” said Steve Nielsen, LABSCO's chairman and CEO. “We want to be the 'go to company' for high-growth diagnostics systems manufacturers like Cepheid who want to leverage our dedicated Diagnostics Systems Specialist team to get to the segments of the market that they don't serve directly. We will continue to invest in this area and our objective is to attract the finest sales talent in the industry,” added Nielsen. “We believe that our focus on the small hospital, Physician Office Laboratory (POL) and other alternate care settings is attractive to these manufacturers and unique in the industry.”
“There are more than 3900 US hospitals below 150 beds which have not been a primary focus of Cepheid to date. The decision to engage on a nationwide basis with LABSCO is in line with one of our strategic growth objectives directed at expanding our reach within the US market,” said Nico Arnold, Cepheid's executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Operations. “We will continue to focus our direct sales efforts on the approximate 2100 hospitals which are 150 beds and above. Based on our positive experience to date with LABSCO, we are excited to be moving to national implementation of our distribution relationship. We feel strongly that our shared passion for revolutionizing molecular diagnostics through a customer-first approach will make for an ideal partnership.”
Laboratory Supply Company was founded by Charles (Charlie) Davis in Louisville, Kentucky in 1972. LABSCO has nine distribution centers and has grown to be the largest privately held distributor of clinical laboratory products in the United States. It is known for its expertise in the clinical laboratory, but is also a full line distributor of diagnostic systems and laboratory supplies to the Physician Office Laboratory (POL) and other alternate care settings.
Cepheid is a leading molecular diagnostics company that is dedicated to improving healthcare by developing, manufacturing, and marketing accurate yet easy-to-use molecular systems and tests.
The GeneXpert System is a closed, self-contained, fully-integrated and automated platform that represents a paradigm shift in the automation of molecular analysis, producing accurate results in a timely manner with minimal risk of contamination.