Laboratório Central - LACEN

What Laboratório Central - LACEN does

Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública de Santa Catarina (LACEN/SC) is a state-owned public health laboratory network headquartered in Florianópolis, Brazil, operating under the Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa Catarina (SES/SC) as part of Brazil's national Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) framework. The network comprises one central laboratory in Florianópolis and six regional/municipal units (LAREG Chapecó, LAREG Criciúma, LAREG Joaçaba, LAREG Joinville, Laboratório de Fronteira São Miguel do Oeste, and Laboratório Municipal de Blumenau), employing 577 staff. Its mandate is to provide reference diagnostic testing, epidemiological surveillance, and sanitary surveillance laboratory services for the entire state of Santa Catarina.

The core service portfolio spans medical biology (HIV viral load and CD4+/CD8+ testing, COVID-19 RT-PCR, tuberculosis, IGRA, microbial monitoring, zoonotic investigation) and environmental/product testing (water quality via VIGIAGUA, food, medicines, cosmetics, and sanitizing products). Operations are managed through a stack of federal and state government information systems — GAL for laboratory management, HARPYA and SGPe for administrative and document processes, SIGRH for HR, SIPROQUIM2 for chemical controls, and a Telemedicine portal — supplemented by Power BI dashboards that publish laboratory surveillance data. The institution is an accredited member of the Rede Nacional de Laboratórios de Saúde Pública (RNLSP) and holds 2025 Proficiency Certificates from the National Quality Control Program for all six network sites.

LACEN has no commercial revenue model; it is funded through the state health budget and operates as a free public service within the SUS referral chain. Customers are internal government entities — primarily SES/SC, the Diretoria de Vigilância Epidemiológica (DIVE), the Diretoria de Vigilância Sanitária (DIVS), municipal health units, and hospitals — that submit samples and consume surveillance outputs. Go-to-market is institutional rather than commercial: the network is the legally designated reference laboratory for the state, with no private-sector competitors operating in this regulatory role.

Name

Laboratório Central - LACEN

Website

https://lacen.saude.sc.gov.br

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública de Santa Catarina (LACEN/SC) is a state-owned public health laboratory network of seven sites providing diagnostic testing, epidemiological surveillance, and sanitary surveillance services to the SUS health system in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Laboratory Services

NAICS

Medical Laboratories (621511), Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories (62151), Testing Laboratories and Services (54138)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Laboratory Quality Systems, Accreditation & Proficiency Testing Programs (HLAJAIAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Disease-Specific Reference Laboratory Networks (e.g., TB, HIV, Influenza) (HLAJAIAD), Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) & Antibiotic Susceptibility Reference Networks (HLAJAIAF)

Keywords

• Public health laboratory services
• Diagnostic testing services
• Epidemiological surveillance
• Water quality testing
• Sanitary surveillance

Headquarters

HQ city

Florianópolis

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LACEN/SC operates a public health laboratory network providing specialized diagnostic and surveillance testing services free of charge to the SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde) in Santa Catarina. Core offerings include HIV viral load and CD4+/CD8+ lymphocyte testing, COVID-19 RT-PCR, tuberculosis testing (including IGRA), microbiological surveillance, water quality surveillance (VIGIAGUA), food/product safety testing under sanitary surveillance, and animal disease investigation. The central laboratory in Florianópolis coordinates five regional laboratories (LAREGs) and partner municipal laboratories across the state.

Product overview

Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública de Santa Catarina (LACEN/SC) operates as a public health laboratory network providing diagnostic testing services. The core offering is a unified laboratory services platform spanning medical biology (human health) and environmental health divisions. The network includes the central laboratory in Florianópolis plus five regional laboratories (LAREGs) in Chapecó, Criciúma, Joaçaba, and Joinville, plus municipal partners. Key services include HIV viral load and CD4+/CD8+ testing, COVID-19 RT-PCR, tuberculosis testing, microbial surveillance, water quality testing (VIGIAGUA), and food/product safety testing. Intelligence dashboards powered by Power BI supplement the core testing services for surveillance data visualization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• UO SAEPE: Setor de Acompanhamento de Ensino e Pesquisa (Teaching and Research Coordination Unit) managing internships and research at LACEN/SC.

Products and services

• HIV Testing Services (Viral Load and CD4+/CD8+ T Lymphocyte Count)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa CatarinacoreOthersÓrgão gestor do LACEN, responsável pelo financiamento e oversight das atividades laboratoriais de saúde pública no estado
• Ministério da Saúde / DATASUScoreTechnology or IntegrationFornecimento de sistemas de informação como GAL (Gerenciador de Ambientes Laboratoriais), SGPe, SIGRH e HARPYA para gestão laboratorial e administrativa
• Laboratórios Regionais (LAREGs)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRede de laboratórios regionais que realizam exames e enviam amostras ao LACEN para exames especializados
• Laboratórios MunicipaiscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLaboratórios municipais parceiros que enviam amostras ao LACEN para análises especializadas
• DIVE - Diretoria de Vigilância EpidemiológicacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordenação de ações de vigilância epidemiológica com apoio diagnóstico laboratorial do LACEN
• DIVS - Diretoria de Vigilância SanitáriacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVigilância sanitária com apoio laboratorial para análise de produtos, alimentos e água
• Instituições de EnsinominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerParcerias para estágios obrigatórios (Programa Novos Valores e estágios curriculares) e pesquisas acadêmicas via SAEPE
• ANVISA - Agência Nacional de Vigilância SanitáriacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegulação e perfil analítico de laboratórios da rede, orientações sobre vigilância sanitária

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Instituto Adolfo Lutz: Central public health laboratory for São Paulo state, coordinating a network of regional labs and offering clinical, food, water, and environmental testing. Closest structural analogue to LACEN/SC as a state-level reference public health laboratory.
• Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED): State-level public health laboratory serving Minas Gerais, providing diagnostic, epidemiological surveillance, and research services. Directly comparable to LACEN/SC in scope of testing and state-network coordination role.
• LACEN/BA: Central public health laboratory of Bahia, also part of RNLSP, providing state-level infectious disease and sanitary surveillance testing. Comparable as a state-level reference public health laboratory.
• LACEN/RS: Central public health laboratory of Rio Grande do Sul, part of RNLSP, providing diagnostic and surveillance services for the state. Comparable mandate and operating model within the same Brazilian South Region.
• LACEN/PR: Central public health laboratory of Paraná, a neighboring state to Santa Catarina, performing analogous infectious disease and environmental testing through a state laboratory network under Brazil's RNLSP.

Broad incumbents

• Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz): Brazil's flagship federal public health research and laboratory institution, including reference labs in Rio de Janeiro. Comparable in mandate (infectious disease surveillance, reference testing, public health R&D) but operates at federal scale rather than state level.
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA): U.K. government public health body with national reference laboratory functions covering infectious disease, genomic surveillance, and environmental testing. Comparable mandate to LACEN/SC's reference testing role.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): U.S. federal public health agency operating reference laboratories for infectious disease, environmental health, and population surveillance. Comparable in mandate and laboratory network coordination, but at national scale.

Emerging players

• Eurofins Brasil: Brazilian arm of Eurofins, providing commercial food, water, environmental and pharmaceutical testing. Overlaps with LACEN's GEMAP division on environmental and sanitary surveillance testing.

Others

• DASA: Largest private diagnostic laboratory network in Brazil. Operates adjacent to LACEN's clinical testing services but serves private/insured patients rather than public-health surveillance; included as a sector adjacency for diagnostic testing capabilities in Brazil.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/laborat%C3%B3rio-central---lacen

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Laboratório Central - LACEN