Quest Diagnostics has been awarded a multiyear contract by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess the burden of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the U.S.
Quest won the contract following a competitive bidding process. Financial and other terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Under the new agreement, Quest will perform both HCV antibody testing and molecular RNA testing using deidentified "remnant" specimens randomly selected from clinical test specimens.
The firm noted in its statement that the new contract extends previous collaborations between Quest and the agency on hepatitis public health research through the analysis of laboratory testing data. Since 2012, Quest has provided the CDC with HIPAA-compliant deidentified laboratory results for hepatitis A, B, C, and E. Additionally, the two organizations collaborated in 2013 on analyzing deidentified hepatitis C testing data for baby boomers, or individuals born from 1945 to 1965.
In June 2023, the CDC published a morbidity and mortality weekly report based on Quest Diagnostics health trends data that showed that only 1 in 3 adults with evidence of hepatitis C viral infection have achieved viral clearance, despite the availability of curative treatments.
