RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. & MADISON, N.J - Tuesday, March 31st 2015 [ME NewsWire]

    Combines the complementary strengths and scale of leading biopharmaceutical services and diagnostic information services providers
    New entity creates superior value proposition through the depth and scale of its capabilities, services and expertise
    Business to help biopharmaceutical customers bring new drug therapies to market and support precision medicine
    Joint venture would have generated approximately $575 million in revenues in 2014
    Quintiles will own 60% and Quest Diagnostics will own 40% of the joint venture
    Investor teleconference scheduled for March 31 at 8:30 a.m. ET

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics today announced a definitive agreement to form a global clinical trials laboratory services business. By combining the clinical trials laboratory operations of two industry leaders, the new entity will provide customers with the depth of capabilities and end-to-end clinical trial laboratory services required to succeed in the increasingly complex biopharmaceutical industry. The new entity will offer a compelling value proposition to solidify its position as the second-largest central laboratory services company in the world.

The joint venture would have generated approximately $575 million in revenues in 2014, and will offer a superior breadth of services and an industry-leading test menu to its customers across all segments of the biopharmaceutical industry – a group that includes all of the top-20 largest biopharmaceutical companies. Upon closing of the transaction, Quintiles will own 60% and Quest Diagnostics will own 40% of the new joint venture.

Quintiles’ scale, clinical trial expertise, and diverse therapeutic experience coupled with Quest Diagnostics’ operational, scientific and quality excellence, supply chain network and informatics promise greater innovation, quality and value for biopharmaceutical customers. In addition, customers will benefit from a globally scaled and agile business model that is singularly focused on delivering top-quality laboratory services informed by deep medical and clinical knowledge.

Clinical, scientific and statistical excellence is becoming increasingly important for successful laboratory work as part of the regulatory approval process. To meet these needs, the entity will draw upon the deep scientific, medical and data expertise of Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics, which together have a team of approximately 3,500 medical doctors, Ph.D.s and biostatisticians as well as cutting-edge experience, expertise and capabilities in the areas of genomics and precision medicine.

The new entity also will leverage a number of additional resources from the broader Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics organizations, including the award-winning Quintiles Infosario®technology platform and Quest Diagnostics’ robust data analytics capabilities. Both companies are bioinformatics leaders in their respective fields – positions that have been built upon and honed from diverse experience and data access. Quest Diagnostics draws from 20 billion test results, and Quintiles’ assets include electronic health records representing more than 60 million patient lives and a network of 250,000 clinical investigators.

“This joint venture builds upon the best of Quintiles’ and Quest Diagnostics’ strengths, creating top-quality services for customers,” said Tom Pike, CEO, Quintiles. “It will join together the scale, expertise and end-to-end capabilities of the broader Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics organizations with a laser-like focus on providing world-class laboratory services that will help improve customers’ probability of success. Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics are already industry leaders with complementary offerings, capabilities and visions to improve patient outcomes and human health. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead of us and the benefits we can provide customers.”

The joint venture will be led by an experienced global management team appointed from Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics. Built upon the strong histories and foundations of quality delivery of its parent organizations, the new entity will provide customers with a variety of advanced testing capabilities and services. These will enable end-to-end companion diagnostic development with regulatory, reimbursement and commercial strategies, to help biopharmaceutical customers’ precision medicine efforts. It also will help enhance quality and efficiency by leveraging Quest Diagnostics’ supply chain that serves approximately half of the physicians and hospitals in the U.S. and includes 2,200 service centers, 3,000 couriers and connectivity solutions used by 250,000 healthcare providers.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the world’s leading biopharmaceutical services provider to help customers succeed with their clinical trials and support the pursuit of precision medicine,” said Steve Rusckowski, CEO, Quest Diagnostics. “For Quest Diagnostics, the joint venture model will enable us to generate growth and value from our clinical trials assets while simultaneously strengthening our focus on our core diagnostic information services business.”

Beyond the immediate opportunity in laboratory services support for clinical trials, Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics expect to benefit from opportunities to collaborate in other areas. These include new ways to enhance patient recruiting and retention for clinical trials; speed the validation, development and commercialization of companion diagnostics; enhance support of real-world late phase studies; and develop new population-health analytics and tools.

The transaction, which is subject to standard and customary closing conditions, is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2015. Additional details and financial terms of this transaction are not being disclosed at this time.

An investor teleconference has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, at 8:30 a.m. ET. The conference call will be accessible, live via webcast, on the Investor Relations section of the Quintiles website at www.Quintiles.com/investors or on the Investor Relations section of the Quest Diagnostics website at www.QuestDiagnostics.com/investor. To participate via telephone, please dial +1 855-710-5091 in the United States or +1 706-902-0591 outside the United States, approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the call. The conference ID is 15324767.

About Quintiles

Quintiles (NYSE: Q), a Fortune 500 company, is the world’s largest provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services. With a network of more than 32,000 employees conducting business in approximately 100 countries, we helped develop or commercialize all of 2013’s top-100 best-selling drugs on the market. Quintiles applies the breadth and depth of our service offerings along with extensive therapeutic, scientific and analytics expertise to help our customers navigate an increasingly complex healthcare environment as they seek to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of better healthcare outcomes. To learn more about Quintiles, please visit www.quintiles.com.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), a Fortune 500 company, is the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services needed to make better healthcare decisions. The company offers the broadest access to diagnostic information services through its network of laboratories and patient service centers, and provides interpretive consultation through its extensive medical and scientific staff. Quest Diagnostics is a pioneer in developing innovative diagnostic tests and advanced healthcare information technology solutions that help improve patient care. Additional information is available at www.QuestDiagnostics.com. Follow us at Facebook.com/QuestDiagnostics and Twitter.com/QuestDX.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this press release which are not historical facts, including with respect to the joint venture, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements reflect, among other things, current expectations and anticipated results of operations by Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics, all of which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements, market trends, or industry results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Therefore, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they are made. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will” and the negative thereof and similar words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but are not limited to, the ability to complete, integrate and achieve the intended objectives with respect to the joint venture, the competitive environment, lawsuits or private actions, adverse results from pending or future government investigations, and other factors discussed in the periodic filings with the SEC by Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics, including those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in (i) Quintiles’ Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 12, 2015 and (ii) Quest Diagnostics’ 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2015, as such factors may be updated from time to time in the periodic filings with the SEC by the respective companies, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in the filings by Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics with the SEC. Unless legally required, Quintiles and Quest Diagnostics assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking information to reflect actual results or changes in the factors affecting such forward-looking information.

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Contacts

Quintiles Contacts:

Phil Bridges, +1-919-457-6347

Media Relations

phil.bridges@quintiles.com

or

Karl Deonanan, +1-919-998-2789

Investor Relations

InvestorRelations@quintiles.com

or

Quest Diagnostics Contacts:

Media:

Wendy Bost, +1-973-520-2800

or

Investors:

Dan Haemmerle, +1-973-520-2900

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