Recently acquired Spokane Valley laboratory could lay off 310 workers

Some 310 Spokane Valley-based laboratory workers’ jobs will be affected after their parent company was purchased by an industry giant.

Earlier this month, Incyte Diagnostics, which has its main lab at 13103 E. Mansfield Ave., announced that it had been acquired by Labcorp, which is based in Burlington, North Carolina.

The Washington state Department of Employment Security Department issued a notice on Friday indicating that 310 Incyte Diagnostics workers would lose their jobs by Aug. 5.

But Incyte’s board chair said the goal will be for all workers to retain jobs despite the acquisition.

According to its website, Incyte is a private company founded in 1957 by pathologists to provide diagnostic pathology services throughout the Pacific Northwest. It has laboratories in Spokane Valley, Tukwila, Richland and Missoula.

Through those facilities, Incyte provided locations for blood draws and other specimen collection procedures.

Labcorp announced on May 5 that it was purchasing Incyte , including all the listed laboratory locations.

According to a Labcorp news release, the purchase is expected to provide patients, physicians and customers with greater access to Labcorp’s laboratory services, scientific expertise and testing capabilities – including oncology testing – in communities across the region.

“Labcorp’s strong technical expertise combined with Incyte’s deep professional expertise will help advance laboratory precision medicine in the Pacific Northwest,” Rajat Mehta, senior vice president of Labcorp’s West Division said in a news release. “We look forward to building on the deep-rooted tradition of high-quality laboratory and healthcare services that Incyte Diagnostics patients and physicians have come to expect and deserve.”

In the same news release, Dr. John Rittenbach, board chair of Incyte, praised the purchase.

“As a physician owned group, we are excited to offer new resources for our providers, patients, and community. Our commitment is to continue to leverage a robust infrastructure for delivering quality diagnostic care,” Rittenbach said in the release. “This partnership will help us extend the local services we have provided over 68 years and support it into the future.”

However, the Washington state Department of Employment Security Department issued a notice on Friday indicating that 310 Incyte Diagnostics workers would lose their jobs by Aug. 5.

Asked for comment, Rittebach emailed a statement indicating that the layoffs were related to a “sale agreement” with Labcorp and indicated that some of the employees may be retained.

“The lab will continue to operate after the sale as usual, and there is a goal for all staff at this location to either continue work with Incyte or Labcorp,” Rittenbach wrote. The state’s layoff notice “is a result of a recent change to Washington law requiring notification for employees transitioning from one entity to another,” he added.

In 2017, Labcorp purchased the 60-year-old medical-testing laboratory known as PAML from Providence Health & Services and Catholic Health Initiatives.

At the time, PAML, which was based in Spokane, employed more than 1,600 people, collected test samples in eight states and generated about $300 million a year in revenue. The deal had to receive final approval from the Federal Trade Commission

The next year LabCorp announced it was laying off 195 workers in Spokane as it shifted medical laboratory work to its other locations.

After the layoffs, Labcorp was employing about 500 people in Spokane, a Labcorp spokesman said in 2018.

According to its website, Labcorp employs about 70,000 employees and does business in approximately 100 countries and provides support for more than 75% of the new drugs and therapeutic products approved in 2024 by the FDA. As part of its work, Labcorp performs more than 700 million tests annually for patients around the world.

Efforts to reach Labcorp were not immediately successful Friday after the layoff notice was published.