The local sector of test makers, specialized equipment manufacturers and testing product suppliers remain invested in their Orange County operations despite recording another year of decline in employment.
A collective of 14 medical diagnostics and testing companies with offices in Orange County counted about 3,628 local employees as of January, marking an almost 3% drop compared to last year.
Companywide employees across the 14 firms however rose 10% to around 68,478.
Quest Diagnostics remains the largest company in the region, ranked by number of OC employees, with an estimated headcount of 1,995 people. The Secaucus, New Jersey-based company currently has 55,000 total employees compared to the 48,000 Quest reported at the beginning of 2024, according to SEC filings.
Ranked No. 2 is Beckman Coulter Inc. in Brea with an estimated 611 local employees and around 10,347 companywide.
Aliso Viejo-based Ambry Genetics Corp., recently acquired by Tempus AI Inc. for $600 million, fell to 232 employees in OC as of January though kept its place at No. 3.
The company said in a statement that local changes are “reflective of a post-pandemic shift in supporting onsite, hybrid and remote work opportunities for employees, depending on their role” yet they remain committed “to improving patient outcomes.”
“We’re proud to be at the forefront of clinical genomics, driving new advances from our Super Lab in Orange County,” Chief Executive Tom Schoenherr added.
Making Investments and
Hires in OC
While most firms across the board are dealing with a drop in local employees, an Irvine-based company is expecting even more growth in the next few years to support further production.
Fluxergy rose to the No. 7 spot on this year’s list with a 13% increase to 90 local employees as of January. The company develops a point-of-care testing platform about the size of a small desktop computer and has plans to increase staffing to keep up with its test card development.
“Fluxergy has continued to grow its veterinary diagnostic business while developing several point-of-care tests for the clinical diagnostic market. Our increased investment into R&D has primarily come from our continued focus on the development of panels for the clinical market, which consist of some of the most common infectious diseases and routine blood-based tests,” CEO Tej Patel told the Business Journal.
“As a mostly in-person company, we’ve made most of these investments and hires in the Orange County area,” he said.
A point of business for Fluxergy is accessibility to its diagnostics platform by making “more affordable tests that maintain laboratory quality.”
“Healthcare continues to increase in cost, with no clear solution to this problem,” Patel said. “Fluxergy is tackling one aspect of this problem by reducing diagnostic testing costs and ultimately improving access to valuable health information in near patient settings like your local urgent care.”
Local Decreases Despite Companywide Growth
Irvine-based Mdxhealth ranked No. 5 this year despite reporting a 9.4% decrease to 144 employees in OC. Companywide, however, increased 9.7% to 317 people.
CEO Michael McGarrity said the company currently has “the most comprehensive menu of tests for diagnostic pathway.” Having grown to five tests for prostate cancer and urologic diseases since 2019, Mdxhealth will base any future growth on its local operations, McGarrity added.
Mdxhealth, which has a $91 million market cap, expects the expansion of its menu to drive 20% or greater revenue growth in the future, according to the CEO (Nasdaq: MDXH).
Other companies that experienced jumps in their companywide headcounts while experiencing a downward shift in local employees include Ambry Genetics and No. 4 Diasorin Molecular LLC.
Diasorin, headquartered in Cypress, reported 209 total employees across its local operations and other offices in the U.S., compared to an estimated 237 companywide headcount a year ago.
Ambry Genetics reached 847 companywide employees and said it was “due to a combination of new services, a greater awareness of the importance for testing inherited cancer risk and market dynamics that have been very challenging for some of our competitors.”
Irvine’s Helio Genomics, No. 10, reported no change in employees with 35 in the city and 150 total. Next up was Biomerica Inc., which fell 13% to 33 employees in OC. Lastly, Oncocyte Corp. fell to No. 13 with a 7.1% drop to 13 employees and Embic Corp., in Newport Beach reported a headcount of 12 landing at No. 14.
