For the past several years, Quest has successfully embarked on a consolidation strategy designed to serve its goal of gaining a competitive advantage, in laboratory testing, with superior distribution strength and increased patient access in a high-volume, low-margin industry. Quest's acquisition of LabOne is consistent with those objectives.

Quest and Laboratory Corp. of America, two Wall Street favorites for several years, seem to be bumping up against a wall when it comes to growth. Their growth is heavily dependent on acquisitions--but there aren't many big labs left to buy. Lab Corp.'s just announced offer for Dianon not withstanding. Quest's bid to buy California-based Unilab, is under FTC scrutiny--although Wall Street is betting the deal will fly. Lab Corp. faces intense regional competition, which it claims it is addressing. Still, the bigger these companies get, the tougher it is to maintain growth.

In Vivo presents another installment of our quarterly review of dealmaking--in this case April through June 2002. Our data come from Windhover's Strategic Transactions Database. We include medical device financings by deal type; diagnostic financings by industry segment; pharma and biotech alliances by therapeutic category and industry segment; pharma and biotech financings by market segment, and pharma and biotech M&A.

Quest Diagnostics' purchase of American Medical Laboratories for $500 million in cash (including assumption of $160 million in debt) is one of a string of acquisitions made by large national laboratories in recent years. While it is by no means Quest's biggest or most strategically critical deal, it gives the nation's largest clinical laboratory a presence in two markets in which it was weak or had no presence, and shores up its rapidly growing esoteric testing business. The deal also eliminates a competitor.