Investors cheer lab deal

When Douglas VanOort took the top job at cancer-testing firm NeoGenomics six years ago, he pledged to turn the company into the nation's premier oncology lab.

It looks like Fort Myers-based NeoGenomics is well on its way, with a blockbuster acquisition of rival Clarient from GE Life Sciences for $275 million in cash and stock. Investors cheered the combination, sending NeoGenomics stock up 28%, to as high as $7.29 a share when it announced the deal Oct. 21.

VanOort has a long track record of success in this business. As a top executive at Corning Life Sciences, he grew and spun off Quest Diagnostic into the largest independent clinical diagnostic company in the United States, with $1.5 billion in revenues in 1998.