Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings today announced
that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Clearstone Central
Laboratories, a leading global provider of central laboratory services for
late-stage clinical trials. The transaction, which is subject to customary
closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011. Terms
of the agreement were not disclosed.

“This acquisition fully combines the complementary
strengths of the Clearstone and LabCorp clinical trials businesses to support
drug development,” said David P. King, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of LabCorp. “This transaction is an important milestone as it
extends our global footprint and service capabilities in key geographies such as
Asia Pacific, and advances the Company’s companion diagnostics and personalized
medicine strategy.” The agreement provides LabCorp with Clearstone’s
global network of central laboratories and clinical trials management system
APOLLO CLPM(TM), which provides clients with real-time access to global data, strengthened
chain of custody, automated sample stability monitoring and guaranteed
consistency across all lab sites. The combined entity will have the largest
available biomarker assay portfolio with globally harmonized and
state-of-the-art testing platforms in areas such as pharmacogenomics,
microbiology, immunohistochemistry, allergy testing, cytogenetics and flow
cytometry.

“We are pleased to announce this agreement because of
the growth opportunity and long-term strategic value it creates for our
clients,” said Clearstone CEO Lewis Cameron. “Clearstone has already
been working closely with LabCorp’s Esoterix division under a strategic collaboration
agreement, which has resulted in a number of client success stories. We will
now be a single team that is completely focused on exceeding our customer’s
drug development objectives.”