You're a bit off base:
1. VAP and NMR usually cost around $100-$200 (depending on who does the billing). Berkeley panels often cost over $1000 (depending on which panel is ordered).
2. Atherotech is now offering more tests because their VAP test is supported by zero outcomes data, has been recognized by zero expert panels, and sales were dropping like a rock. Expansion into other tests is merely an attempt to keep the lights on. Barring any significant changes in their current direction, their future is not bright.
3. Berkeley has indeed gotten "paid more" in the past because of all of the tests they offer (they charge hundreds of dollars for their LDL and HDL size tests alone), but they were burying their bad debt instead of billing patients for it because they didn't want their ordering physicians to get upset about patient complaints. When Celera bought Berkeley, the gig was up, and some people got fired. Around the same time, some of the managed care payors wised up and quit paying for Berkeley's expensive panels of bundled tests. Berkeley is now having to offer tests on a more individual basis, and move away from the $1000+ panels (at the same time as Atherotech is trying to move toward more expensive panels to save themselves from the sorry failure of a test called VAP).
4. The flagship proprietary technologies employed by Atherotech and Berkeley are supported by no outcomes data, and are relatively expensive, laborious, and time-consuming. They are not well-suited to widespread utilization in the clinical laboratory environment, and therefore will remain relegated to the world of "advanced" and "esoteric" testing. The technology behind LipoScience's NMR LipoProfile test, on the other hand, is supported by outcomes data, and is fast and efficient. It is going to be decentralized into clinical laboratories around the country and around the world (although this process will take many years).
VAP and Berkeley are going to remain esoteric and fringe - NMR is going to replace the lipid panel (150+ million lipid panels ordered in the US each year). What horse do you wanna put your money on?
