Fortrea Holdings Inc.

1968–1999

In 1968, Environmental Sciences Corporation was established in Seattle, Washington, manufacturing equipment related to laboratory animals. In 1972, it acquired and took the name of Hazleton Laboratories, a contract laboratory that conducted toxicology testing. In 1977, Corning Inc. purchased a stake in Hazleton and in 1987, it acquired the remainder of the company for $115 million. By 1982, Hazleton was the largest independent biological testing company and life sciences laboratory in the U.S. and the largest laboratory equipment manufacturer worldwide. The company carried out animal toxicology tests of drugs, cosmetics, pesticides, and industrial chemicals, and bred rhesus monkeys and beagles for its own labs, as well as for chemical and drug companies, hospitals, universities and government agencies. It offered chemical analysis of new compound products for various industries, tested chemicals for gene mutations, and carried out research with monoclonal antibodies. It sold the equipment manufacturing unit in the mid-1980s.

In 1989, Corning Glass Works acquired G.H. Besselaar Associates, which conducted clinical trials for drug approvals. In 1990, Hazleton acquired Microtest, a molecular toxicology center in York, England. Corning Glass Works changed its name to Corning, and folded Besselaar and Hazelton into a new subsidiary, Corning Lab Services. In 1991, Corning Lab Services acquired SciCor.

In 1992, it acquired Philadelphia Association of Clinical Trials. In 1993, Hazleton, Besselaar, and SciCor were combined into Corning Pharmaceutical Services, then Corning Life Sciences.

In 1995, Corning Pharmaceutical Services acquired National Packaging Systems, an Allentown, Pennsylvania-based clinical trial packaging company.

In 1997, Corning completed the corporate spin-off of its laboratory testing business as Quest Diagnostics and its pharmaceutical services business as Covance.

In the fourth quarter of 1998, the company acquired GDXI, which undertakes the capture and interpretation of electrocardiograms, and Berkeley Antibody Company, which provides contract services in custom antibody production, applied immunology, and custom animal testing to support the medical device industry and preclinical evaluations, for a total of $26 million in cash.

2000-present

In 2000, the company opened a central laboratory in Singapore, building on clinical-development services formed in Singapore in 1996. In 2013, it expanded the capacity of the laboratory by 50%.

In March 2001, the company sold Covance Pharmaceutical Packaging Services to Fisher Scientific for $137.5 million.

In August 2005, it acquired GFI Clinical Services, an 80-bed clinical pharmacology business, from West Pharmaceutical Services for $5.7 million.

In April 2006, the company acquired eight early phase clinical pharmacology sites from Radiant Research for $65 million.

In June 2006, it acquired Signet Laboratories, a provider of monoclonal antibodies used in the research of cancer, infectious disease, and neurodegenerative disease, for $8.95 million.

In 2007, the company opened a laboratory in Shanghai, China. In 2019, it opened a research and development center in Shanghai.

In August 2008, the company acquired a campus in Greenfield, Indiana from Eli Lilly and Company and executed a 10-year service drug development service agreement with Lilly.

In December 2008, the company acquired a minority equity stake in Caprion Proteomics, a provider of proteomics-based services to the pharmaceutical industry. The company was acquired by Chicago Growth Partners in July 2012.

In 2009, the company acquired the Gene Expression Laboratory from Merck & Co. and entered into a five-year, $145 million contract to provide Merck with genomic analysis services.

In 2010, the company and Sanofi-Aventis created an outsourcing partnership, which, at the time was considered the largest between a contract research organization and a pharmaceutical company. Covance also acquired sites from Sanofi-Aventis in Porcheville, France and Alnwick, United Kingdom.

In 2014, the company acquired Medaxial, a London-based value communication consultancy.

In February 2015, Labcorp acquired Covance for $6.1 billion in cash and stock.

In 2016, the company entered into a strategic alliance with Global Specimen Solutions, in which the company offered GSS products GlobalCODE and snapTRACK to its clients. In December 2017, Covance acquired the company.

In September 2017, the company acquired Chiltern, a specialty contract research organization, for $1.2 billion in cash.

In June 2018, the company acquired Sciformix Corporation, a scientific process outsourcing company focused on pharmacovigilance and regulatory issues for biopharmaceutical and medical devices clients.

In August 2018, Covance Food Solutions was sold to Eurofins Scientific for $670 million.

In June 2019, the company acquired the nonclinical contract research services business of Envigo (now Inotiv ), which acquired the research products business of the company.

In the first quarter of 2019, the company spent $47 million to acquire MI Bioresearch, a provider of preclinical capabilities in cell and gene therapy and oncology testing, and Regulatory and Clinical Research Institute (RCRI), a device-focused contract research organization.

In October 2020, the company acquired GlobalCare, a mobile nursing and ambulant care company with operations in more than 65 countries, and snapIoT, a company that provides a digitized clinical platform that supports remote participation in clinical trials.

In June 2021, the company changed its name to Labcorp Drug Development.

In February 2023, the company was renamed Fortrea Holdings. In July 2023, Labcorp completed the corporate spin-off of the company.

In June 2024, the company sold its Endpoint Clinical and Fortrea Patient Access businesses to Arsenal Capital Partners.