1990s

On April 28, 1995, National Health Laboratories Holdings Inc. merged with Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc., and changed its name to Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings. It began trading under its new ticker symbol LH.^[19] Shareholders of National Health Laboratories received 0.72 shares of the new company, plus $5.60 in cash, for a 50.1 percent interest in the new company. At the time, James R. Maher was president and Chief Executive Officer of National Health Laboratories. Following the merger, Maher relinquished those positions, and instead became Chairman of the new company, succeeding the financier Ronald O. Perelman in that position. Perelman received about US$100 million from the deal, which made the new company the largest blood-testing company in the United States.^[15][16]

The merged company created revenues of US$1.7 billion.^[16] National Health Laboratories already held long-term debt of US$351 million.^[10] Together with the Roche debt, the combined companies owed US$590 million prior to the merger. Another US$288 million was added to help finance the payout to shareholders.^[15] By year-end 1995, the new company's total debt reached US$959 million.^[10]

Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been created by and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., the American arm of the Swiss medical conglomerate, Roche Holding, Limited. Before 1982, the core of Roche Biomedical Laboratories had been Biomedical Reference Laboratories, which dated from the late 1960s, and was located in Burlington, North Carolina. That core company had become publicly traded in 1979. Hoffman-La Roche acquired it for US$163.5 million in 1982 and then merged it with all of its laboratories, and incorporated the merged company that year as Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. in Burlington. By the early 1990s, Roche Biomedical had become one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States, with US$600 million in sales.^[20]

By 1993 Roche Biomedical Laboratories had revenues of US$712 million, with 17 major laboratories. Dr. James Powell was President of Roche Biomedical, and after the merger with National Health Laboratories he became president and CEO of the new company, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, which then relocated from La Jolla, California, to the Roche Biomedical headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina. Hoffmann-La Roche also contributed US$186.7 million in cash to the deal, and retained 49.9 interest in the new merged company.^[16]

By year-end 1995, the new Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings suffered a marginal loss of a few million dollars. The stock price dropped by almost half again through the year, to within 10% of its all-time low since going public six years earlier. By early the next year, it broke marginally below that level, and set a new all-time low.^[10]

In July 1998, Labcorp acquired the Michigan-based laboratory division of Universal Standard Healthcare (UHCI). Labcorp also acquired an equity position in Universal Standard Healthcare and has become UHCI's clinical laboratory long-term testing provider^[21] but terminated this agreement one year later.^[22]

2000s

In June 2000, Labcorp completed the acquisition of San Diego–based Pathology Medical Laboratories for an undisclosed amount.^[23]

In 2000, Labcorp generated revenues of US$1.9 billion with over 18,000 employees.^[3]

In May 2001, Labcorp completed its acquisition of Path Lab Holdings Inc., the largest regional laboratory in New England,^[24] and just a few weeks later the acquisition of Minneapolis-based ViroMed Inc., specialized on clinical diagnostic testing in virology, molecular biology, serology, microbiology, mycology and mycobacteriology, as well as in tissue/eye bank testing, for an undisclosed amount.^[25]

In December 2001, Labcorp became the exclusive marketer for genomics and proteomics predictive cancer test products made by Myriad Genetics, Inc.^[26]

In May 2002, Labcorp announced the acquisition of all outstanding Shares of Canadian medical laboratory services company Dynacare Inc. for $480 million in cash and own shares.^[27]

In January 2003, Labcorp acquired all of the outstanding shares of Dianon, a provider of anatomical pathology and oncology testing services,^[28] for $598 million in cash.^[29]

In 2005, Labcorp's revenues totaled $3.3 billion; in 2006, revenues were $3.6 billion; and in 2007, revenues reached $4.1 billion.^[30]

In March 2005, Labcorp announced the acquisition of all outstanding Shares of Esoterix, Inc., a leading provider of specialty reference testing, for approximately $150 million in cash from private equity firm Behrman Capital.^[31]

In November 2006, Labcorp acquired Litholink Corporation, a kidney stone analysis laboratory.^[2]

In December 2007, Labcorp acquired Tandem Labs, a Contract research organization specializing in advanced mass spectrometry, immunoanalytical support, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics, headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT for an undisclosed amount.^[32]

In June 2009, Labcorp acquired Monogram Biosciences, a diagnostic lab specializing in HIV resistance testing, headquartered in South San Francisco, CA, in a cash tender of $4.55 per share for approximately $155 million including debt.^[33]

2010s

In May 2010, Labcorp acquired the assets of its Santa Ana, California-based rival Westcliff Medical Laboratory which had just filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy action in federal court.^[34] The FTC challenged this acquisition^[35] but lost in court.^[36]

In September 2010, Labcorp announced the acquisition of Genzyme Genetics, formerly a division of Genzyme, with 9 testing laboratories and approximately 1900 employees, for $925 million in cash.^[37]

In June 2011, Labcorp acquired their Canadian central labs partner Clearstone from investment firm Czura Thornton for an undisclosed amount, thus adding Clearstone's global network of central laboratories, including sites in China, France, Singapore and Canada, and the central laboratory protocol management system APOLLO CLPM to their portfolio.^[38]

In November 2011, Labcorp completed the acquisition of more than 90% of the shares of DNA testing company Orchid Cellmark for $85 million but had to sell parts of Orchid's paternity business to DNA Diagnostics Center.^[39]

In May 2012, Labcorp Clinical Trials sold its European biological sampling kit building operation located in Hamburg to clinical supply chain solutions provider Marken.^[40]

In August 2012, Labcorp completed the acquisition of rival testing lab Medtox Scientific for $241 million.^[41]

In September 2013, Labcorp acquired MuirLab, the clinical laboratory outreach business from John Muir Health.^[42]

In October 2014, Labcorp announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Covance Inc. for approximately $6.1 billion.^[43] Just a few weeks later, Labcorp completed its $85.3 million acquisition of LipoScience, a developer of diagnostic tests based on nuclear magnetic resonance technology measuring heart disease risk.^[44]

In December 2014, Labcorp announced the completion of its acquisition of Bode Technology Group, Inc., a provider of forensic DNA analysis, DNA collection products, and relationship testing, from SolutionPoint International, Inc. for an undisclosed amount.^[45] Bode was described in 2019 as the largest DNA forensic testing company in the USA.^[46]

In October 2015, Labcorp announced the acquisition of Safe Foods International Holdings, LLC and its two operating companies, International Food Network and The National Food Laboratory for an undisclosed amount, thus expanding their capabilities in food and beverage product-development and product-integrity.^[47]

In March 2016, Labcorp completed the acquisition of Torrance, CA-based laboratory firm Pathology Inc., a provider of expertise in reproductive FDA donor testing as well as anatomic, molecular and digital pathology services, for an undisclosed amount.^[48]

In August 2016, Labcorp announced it would acquire Sequenom for $371 million including debt, thus expanding its reach overseas, especially in Europe and Asia.^[49]

In October 2016, Labcorp acquired ClearPath Diagnostics, a provider of laboratory diagnostic services in the Northeastern United States, from private equity firm Shore Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.^[50]

In May 2017, Labcorp acquired the Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories in Spokane, Washington, from Providence Health & Services and Catholic Health Initiatives for an undisclosed sum.^[51]

In July 2017, Labcorp acquired the contract research organization (CRO) Chiltern for $1.2 billion.^[52]

2020s

In March 2020, Labcorp received emergency use authorization from the FDA for a test for Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.^[53]

Labcorp is one of the six large commercial lab companies that are conducting most of the United States' coronavirus testing, along with ARUP, BioReference Laboratories, Mayo Clinic, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare.^[54] According to the American Clinical Laboratory Association, by April 1, together these laboratories had completed 807,000 COVID-19 tests.^[54]

In November 2021, the business announced it would acquire contract research organisation Toxikon.^[55] In December, the company announced it would acquire Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. and its liquid biopsy and tissue-based genomic product.^[56][57]

In February 2022, Labcorp announced that it has entered into agreements with Ascension, one of the nation’s leading Catholic and nonprofit health systems, to manage Ascension's hospital-based laboratories in ten states and purchase select assets of the health system's outreach laboratory business.^[58]