UnitedHealth Group's Optum is reportedly in late-stage talks with AbleTo regarding a roughly $470 million acquisition of the virtual behavioral-care company, according to unnamed sources who spoke to CNBC.

Optum is already a stakeholder in the New York company, having provided a "significant investment" through its Optum Ventures arm back in January of 2019.

At the time, Optum Ventures Principal Stephen Renfro said in a statement that "AbleTo's behavioral health solutions have a meaningful effect on total cost of care, productivity and overall well-being,” and that his group was eager to work with AbleTo and "drive further innovative solutions.”

The $470 million price tag would place AbleTo's value around 10 times that of its forward revenue, the sources told CNBC. Founded in 2008, the company works with payers to provide individualized behavioral health programs, which include virtual sessions with live therapists, to members.

WHY IT MATTERS

News of the half-billion-dollar purchase plans comes as the telehealth market is experiencing unprecedented demand for its services. Nationwide shutdown and stay-at-home orders tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency have reduced individuals' access to behavioral health resources, and could also be fueling a greater need for such services.

Virtual programs like AbleTo's are poised to address these issues, and to do so while protecting providers and other healthcare workers from unnecessary exposure to coronavirus. While Optum would likely fold the company's business into its own collection of tech-driven healthcare services, the deal could also provide UnitedHealth Group's insurance businesses with a new behavioral health resource to offer their members.

THE LARGER TREND

UnitedHealth Group and Optum haven't been shying away from digital health acquisitions as of late. Late last year brought news that Optum had purchased Vivify Health, a remote patient-monitoring startup, for an undisclosed sum. Earlier that summer, UnitedHealthGroup acquired PatientsLikeMe, an online patient community portal, with the intent of folding the startup into its healthcare innovation research arm.

Interestingly, AbleTo has also been on the purchasing side of an M&A within the last year, as it had acquired a fellow virtual behavioral health company named Joyable in March 2019.

This morning behemoth lab test company Quest Diagnostics announced that it will be offering a “consumer initiated” COVID-19 antibody test for $119. 

Dubbed Quest Direct, the service will let consumers request the antibody test through an online platform. Once the request is initiated it is sent to a licensed physician, who greenlights the testing order. Patients can then go to a Quest service center to get their blood drawn, and get results within one to two days via an online portal. 

Patients can also tap into telehealth services to discuss their results with a doctor. 

The antibody testing will be based on tests from Abbott and EUROIMMUN. At the beginning of this week Abbott landed an Emergency Use Authorization for its serology test. EUROIMMUN is still in the process of submitting for an EUA, although the test is still able to be used in CLIA labs under a March FDA policy. According to Quest, Abbott reports a 99.4% specificity for its antibody test, and EUROIMMUN AG is reporting a 98.5% to 99% specificity. 

The tests will be specifically aimed at testing for COVID-19 antibodies, which means the test is not meant to be used to determine whether or not a person is positive for the virus.

When the virus first hits, a patient’s body is still developing antibodies in the early days of the infection. That means that serology tests can provide negative results if administered too early. The other issue is that test results could be positive if a person was once infected with the virus but is no longer ill, according to the agency.

Quest specifies this test is not intended for those who feel sick or who have tested positive for the coronavirus within seven days. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

In many conditions when a patient develops antibodies, it can mean they have protective immunity. However, the CDC said that at this time it is still unknown if having detectable antibodies for the virus can protect a patient from getting it again or for how long. 

However, those with the antibodies are now being recruited to help with clinical trials. Plasma has recently come onto the scene as a potential therapy. The CDC is encouraging people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma, citing the new national efforts to study convalescent plasma. 

Just this morning the UK’s NHS Blood and Transplant organization announced its plans to solicit blood from recovered patients for plasma-focused clinical trials. 

THE LARGER TREND 

At the beginning of April, Cellex became the first company to land an FDA EUA for a serology test.

However, the tests haven’t been without controversy. The science community has been skeptical of the accuracy of such tests. And in early April, at least one company mistook its response from the agency as an EUA and falsely marketed its service. It wasn't long after that Cellex’s test was released. 

But this isn’t the first direct-to-consumer marketing of tests. On April 21, LabCorp’s COVID-19 RT-PCR test became the first diagnostic test for COVID-19 that permits at-home sample collection.