Quest Diagnostics ($DGX) has made a great deal of headway in India over the past 6 years, as the oft-downgraded giant is looking to diversify its revenue sources in the face of reimbursement challenges at home.
As India's PharmaBiz reports, since landing in the country in 2008, Quest has expanded to cover 25 of its largest cities, leading the way with cancer tests and sequencing-based diagnostics. India long lagged behind the West in access to high-tech testing services, and Quest was among the first to offer mutation-targeting assays in the country, the company said.
But while its Indian operation has charted exponential growth, Quest's fortunes haven't been so bright in the U.S. The New Jersey-headquartered company has repeatedly lowered its revenue and profit projections in response to sagging demand for its tests and an unfavorable reimbursement climate.
Quest is expecting 2013's revenue to come in around 3.5% lower than the year before, and CEO Steve Rusckowski doesn't believe the market is going to change much in the next 12 months. Instead, Quest's plan to reverse its luck involves shedding hundreds of jobs, reformulating its business and selling off some segments.
Last year, Quest hauled in about $800 million by dumping a bevy of assets. The company sold its share of Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) and Pharmacyclics' ($PCYC) much-hyped ibrutinib (now Imbruvica) for $485 million and banked $300 million from the sale of its HemoCue diagnostics business to Danaher ($DHR).
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