21 Aug 08 Can Google and LabCorp do this?

Here’s something really interesting. A few weeks ago LabCorp employees started posting comments on this site in support and defense of the company and employees. Shortly thereafter, www.labcorpsucks.com almost dissappeared from the Google search results. There does not appear to be a reasonable explanation for this to happen, as this site has lots of visits from dissatisfied LabCorp patients and is still highly ranked in Yahoo and MSN. I just saw an article in the Medical Quack Blog that may provide some answers (or at least raise some suspicion). It is about the business relationship between Google and LabCorp. I would not put it past LabCorp executives to ask Google to punish this website, but it is hard for me to believe that Google would actually play along with LabCorp and lower the search value of a website based on their own economic interests.

Last month several Genomics companies received warning letters from the State of California and were told they needed to be licensed. 23andMe, which is an offshoot of Google may have a potential solution on the dilemma of the licensing issue with working with LabCorp, one of the largest labs in the US.

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Although 23andMe is keeping mum on which contract laboratory it is using to conduct its DTC genomic testing services, GenomeWeb Daily News has learned that Laboratory Corporation of America is providing the necessary genotyping services for the personal genomics company. “I can confirm that we are doing lab work for 23andMe,” Eric Lindblom, LabCorp’s senior vice president for investor and media relations, told GWDN.

…You can also read more about the National Genetics Institute, a subsidiary of LabCorp. LabCorp already has a pretty large stake invested in the genomics business.

Lindblom also noted that LabCorp is CLIA licensed in California and New York, the two states that recently warned 23andMe, along with several other personal genomics firms, to stop marketing genetic tests directly to consumers. One of the reasons cited by regulators was that the consumer genomics firms were not licensed in these states to provide laboratory services.

Reader's Comments

Anonymous | 09 Nov 2008 10:43 pm
Before implicating a nationally respected organization like NGI, I suggest you do a little more investigation. The type of testing performed here is specifically related to identifying the genomes of viral DNA in blood, not to sequencing anyone’s personal DNA signature.
Anonymous | 01 Dec 2008 3:20 pm
NGI is working with Google on 23andme. I work at NGI, too.
Anonymous | 02 Dec 2008 8:16 am
LabCorp doesn’t care about its patients; its offices are frequently closed when they’re scheduled to be open, without any notice or warning.