Quest Diagnostics Expands Rare Disease Offerings with Acquisition of Blueprint Genetics

Rare Daily Staff

Quest Diagnostics said that it has acquired specialty genetic testing company Blueprint Genetics in an all-cash equity transaction for an undisclosed amount.

Quest said the acquisition will allow it to broaden access to actionable insights in genetic and rare diseases, improving patient care and pharmaceutical drug research and development.

“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 CEO 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.” 

Blueprint Genetics serves customers in more than 70 countries. The company provides 3,900 targeted single gene and more than 200 panel tests spanning 14 medical specialties. Gene variant interpretation involves identifying associations between gene variants and disease or treatment response.

The acquisition provides a platform for Blueprint Genetics to leverage Quest’s capabilities in next generation sequencing and national infrastructure serving half the health systems and physicians in the United States. Blueprint Genetics is expected to continue to operate largely independently from its base laboratory in Helsinki, Finland, and have a presence in other countries.

Quest said that over time, the acquisition is expected to yield new capabilities to serve providers specializing in rare disease and neurology, particularly pediatric and academic hospitals. The two organizations also envision that 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 has agreed to continue to lead the company as vice president and general manager. “Teaming up with Quest will allow us to extend our capabilities in the United States as well as in Canada and other countries where we already have strong and growing client relationships.“