CRO Fortrea completed its spinoff from Labcorp over the long U.S. holiday weekend and named six independent directors to its board.
Labcorp announced plans last July to spin off its CRO operations into an independent, publicly traded company with more than 19,000 employees and drug and medical device development services such as clinical trial management and commercialization solutions.
Fortrea shares debuted on the Nasdaq on Monday, opening at $34 apiece and closing the day at $36.84.
The CRO division brought in $3 billion in revenue in 2022, accounting for between 15% to 20% of Labcorp’s central lab business. With the split, the central lab division is expected to become more operationally nimble and attract more clients, according to Labcorp.
“Fortrea has been established to bring sharpened focus to our purpose, which is partnering with customers to bring life-changing therapies to patients faster,” Tom Pike, Fortrea’s chairman and CEO, said in the release. “As an independent company with increased operational agility and financial flexibility, we are the ideal size to deliver on this purpose.”
The company also announced a number of new additions to its board of directors, including former chairman of Varian Medical Systems Andrew Eckert, GE HealthCare Technologies' chief people officer Betty Larson and Adaptive Biotechnologies' lead director Peter Neupert.