Labcorp has announced it intends to split into two independent, publicly traded companies, with its global laboratory services retaining the Labcorp name and its clinical research business, formerly known as Covance, going so far unnamed.

The company acquired Covance, one of the world’s largest CROs, in February 2015 for approximately $6.2 billion and renamed it Labcorp Drug Development (LDD) last year. LDD’s annual revenue is approximately $11 billion (CenterWatch Weekly, March 28).

The separate clinical development business will serve as a global CRO and provide support on phase 1 through 4 trials for pharma and biotech companies. Labcorp has not yet specified whether the clinical development company will continue to operate under its current Labcorp Drug Development name or be retitled.

Labcorp anticipates finalizing the split in the second half of 2023.