Credit: Shutterstock photoRenowned molecular diagnostics provider CepheidCPHD recently entered into a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Henry Schein Medical, the Medical business of one of the leading healthcare services distributors in North America - Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC . Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either of the companies.
The agreement will allow Henry Schein to distribute Cepheid's fully integrated and automated on-demand molecular system GeneXpert, along with a portfolio of 17 moderately complex Xpert tests, as well as the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-waived version of the Xpert Flu/RSV assay, to non-acute care laboratories across the U.S.
Notably, these molecular assays are utilized to examine varied healthcare associated infections, critical infectious diseases as well as sexual health disorders.
Interestingly, so far, only traditional hospital laboratories enjoyed full access to the easy-to-use, flexible and broad test menu providing the GeneXpert diagnostic platform. The latest agreement will now allow the patients of non-hospital laboratories to enjoy the benefits of these tests as well.
We believe the distribution deal with Henry Schein Medical will help enhance Cepheid's customer base by adding on the non-acute care customers served by the latter, which include physician-office laboratories, women's health and large multi-specialty clinics, urgent care facilities, community health centers, correctional facility laboratories, student health centers, STD clinics, long-term care facilities and reference laboratories.
With the transformation of the healthcare market to a value-based payment system, the healthcare industry has been experiencing a shift from hospital-based care to non-acute settings over the last decade. In this scenario, we believe it is high time for healthcare providers to include non-acute care customers within their customer base. The aforementioned deal is one such crucial step on Cepheid's part.
Per the deal, Henry Schein will also distribute Cepheid's point-of-care molecular platform, GeneXpert Omni, once the system gets its desired FDA nod. Cepheid expects to launch GeneXpert Omni in late 2016, which will allow Henry Shein to distribute the CLIA-waived tests under this platform to more than 100,000 CLIA-waived physician office laboratories.
The deal should prove to be a strategic benefit for both Cepheid and Henry Schein going forward, with more new customers adopting Cepheid's non-acute care services.
Currently, both Cepheid and Henry Schein carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked medical stocks are ICU Medical, Inc. ICUI and Nxstage Medical, Inc. NXTM . Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
