Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Unveils the 88-Compound NPS Test Panel
Quest Diagnostics DGX recently launched its new confirmatory testing service for novel psychoactive substances (NPS). The new panel, which tests for 88 compounds, covers a broad array of drug classes, such as designer opioids, designer benzodiazepines, designer stimulants, fentanyl analogs, synthetic cannabinoids and other illicit additives.
The company developed the panel to address the changing drug epidemic, as revealed by its nationally representative Health Trends report, "Drug Misuse in America 2023: The Growing Crisis of Novel Psychoactive Substances”. The Quest Diagnostics Health Trends reports are a series of data-supported scientific reports that provide insights into critical healthcare issues.
Significance of the Latest Health Trends Report
The “Drug Misuse in America 2023: The Growing Crisis of Novel Psychoactive Substances" report sheds light on the drug crisis and its shift from the misuse of prescription opioids and fentanyl to NPS based on more than 3.6 million clinical laboratory drug tests performed by the company in 2022. The report also includes an analysis of 3,730 randomly selected "remnant" specimens tested using a pilot version of the new NPS test panel.
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The findings align with a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), highlighting the increasing connection between xylazine and opioid overdose deaths while revealing the growing misuse of other NPS.
The Health Trends analysis also found that specimens in areas with low-income demographics were nearly seven times more likely to test positive for nonprescribed fentanyl than those linked to high-income communities. Researchers theorize that these differences are due to comparatively higher quality of care and generally greater access to resources in high-income communities.
News in Detail
NPS are versions of established prescription and illicit drugs that are routinely chemically altered to enhance drug effects and evade tracking by law enforcement. As their chemical composition frequently evolves, conventional point-of-care and laboratory test methods may fail to detect NPS, thereby increasing risks for individual patients and challenging efforts to understand their long-term health effects or prevalence in communities.
Two categories of drugs are rapidly accelerating the overdose crisis in America — other illicit additives (xylazine) and fentanyl analogs (acetyl fentanyl). In this context, Quest Diagnostics’ new test panel is designed to help healthcare providers detect potential drug misuse in patients prescribed controlled medications, such as opioids and other substances, amid a proliferation of synthetic or "designer" drugs in the nation's drug supply.
The new panel uses definitive liquid chromatography with advanced tandem mass spectrometry-based testing to establish NPS misuse. Quest Diagnostics’ team of toxicologists, medical experts and data analysts will periodically review and update the panel to include the most relevant and prevalent substances present in communities, backed by data.
Industry Prospects
Per a Research report, the drug screening market was valued at $8.48 billion in 2022 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 9.4% till 2030.
Recent Developments
Earlier this month, Quest Diagnostics was awarded a contract by the CDC to assess the burden of hepatitis C virus in the United States. The agreement marks a new phase of a decade-long collaboration between Quest and the CDC to improve hepatitis public health research based on insights from laboratory data.
In June 2023, the CDC published an MMWR report (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) based on Quest Diagnostics Health Trends data that found only one in three adults with evidence of hepatitis C viral infection have achieved viral clearance despite the availability of curative therapies.
Price Performance
In the past six months, DGX shares have decreased 1.5% compared to the industry’s rise of 3.3%.
Zacks Rank and Key Picks
Quest Diagnostics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Haemonetics HAE, Insulet PODD and DexCom DXCM. Haemonetics and DexCom each presently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), and Insulet sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Haemonetics’ stock has risen 10.8% in the past year. Earnings estimates for Haemonetics have increased from $3.86 to $3.89 in 2023 and $4.11 to $4.15 in 2024 in the past 30 days.
HAE’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 16.1%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of 5.3%.
Estimates for Insulet’s 2023 earnings per share have moved up from $1.90 to $1.91 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have dropped 28.8% in the past year compared with the industry’s decline of 2.2%.
PODD’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 105.1%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an average earnings surprise of 77.4%.
Estimates for DexCom’s 2023 earnings per share have increased from $1.43 to $1.44 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have increased 7.4% in the past year compared with the industry’s rise of 2.2%.
DXCM’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 36.4%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an average earnings surprise of 47.1%.
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