MIDDLEBURY — The current financial crisis at Burlington Labs is not expected to affect the company’s Middlebury location, which is currently staffed by two full-time employees, according to a spokesperson for the drug testing firm.
The Green Mountain Care Board late last week gave conditional approval to a bid by a group of investors — led by former IDX executive Jim Crook Jr. — to acquire the financially troubled Burlington Labs. The University of Vermont Health Network — the same organization with which Porter Medical Center is considering an affiliation — is also a player in the purchase.
Despite the widely reported financial difficulties, it is business as usual at Burlington Labs, according to spokeswoman Nicole Ravlin of People Making Good Public Relations.
“At this point, there are no changes in operations and locations for Burlington Labs,” Ravlin said during a recent phone interview.
“A group of investors is trying to move things along, trying to get (the company) on more solid ground.”
With more than 130 employees in Vermont, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Burlington Labs performs urinalysis and oral fluid testing to screen for around 25 different drugs, including opiates, cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, alcohol and barbiturates. Clients are most commonly referred by doctors, hospitals, drug treatment centers, probation and parole officers, prospective employers, as well as parents and individuals. Company services are covered by most private insurance, as well as Medicaid and Medicare.
Burlington Labs opened its Middlebury office a few years ago in a 1,200-square-foot vacancy in the Starr Mill building in Middlebury’s Frog Hollow district.
Burlington Labs was founded in 2006 by Michael and Jodie Casarico, a husband and wife with backgrounds in substance abuse treatment.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].