QIAGEN Expands Access to State-of-the-art HPV Screening in China Through Co-marketing Agreement With KingMed Diagnostics

SHANGHAI and GUANGZHOU, China and HILDEN, Germany, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

 

• Agreement will make HPV testing more widely available throughout China  
• QIAGEN's digene  HPV Test is regarded as the "gold standard" in testing for high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer
• Coinciding with International Women's Day, QIAGEN also joins fifth year of campaign to provide free HPV testing to underprivileged women in China

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that it will expand access to its digene HPV Test across China through a co-marketing agreement with KingMed Diagnostics, China's largest independent laboratory network. Through the agreement, KingMed Diagnostics will function as a centralized lab, allowing smaller hospitals and those in less-populated areas to offer the digene HPV Test and send samples to KingMed Diagnostics for processing and analysis. The agreement is an additional milestone for QIAGEN's molecular diagnostics franchise in China and its focus on driving growth in emerging markets. The digene HPV Test was first registered in China in 2000 and is now widely available in many of the country's top-tier hospitals and private labs.

"We are pleased to work with QIAGEN, an industry-leading multinational company," said Liang Yaoming, Chief Executive Officer of KingMed Diagnostics. "Our nationwide network, expertise and proven track record make us the perfect partner for QIAGEN to increase their reach in China." QIAGEN expects the collaboration to expand access to the test in second-tier and third-tier cities, as well as in less developed regions where the cervical cancer burden is highest. "By joining hands with KingMed Diagnostics we can bring our lifesaving HPV testing technology not only to more women but also to the regions where it is most needed," said Dr. Victor Shi, Asia Pacific President of QIAGEN. "QIAGEN and KingMed Diagnostics have had a long and fruitful collaboration which we are now significantly expanding. We are pleased to work more closely with the leading provider of clinical diagnostic testing in China and to make progress towards saving more lives from cervical cancer."

The announcement coincides with the observance of International Women's Day on March 8. For the fifth year in a row, QIAGEN is donating HPV tests for the screening of several thousand underprivileged women across China. The free testing is part of the larger "3.8 Program," a nationwide cancer prevention campaign organized by the Cancer Foundation of China and partially sponsored by QIAGEN. In the past four years, QIAGEN's digene HPV Test has been used to screen about 16,000 women through the campaign, identifying more than 200 women who might otherwise have gone on to develop and/or perish from cervical cancer.

Worldwide, cervical cancer affects approximately 500,000 women annually and causes about 275,000 deaths each year. After breast cancer, it is the second most common malignancy found in women. In China, there are 80,000-100,000 new cases of cervical cancer each year and 30,000 to 50,000 deaths. Cervical cancer is caused by "high-risk" types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). An estimated 80 percent of women will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. However, in most cases, the infection goes away or is suppressed by the body without causing problems. Only infections that persist can cause abnormal cells to form, which may develop into cervical cancer if not detected and treated early. Testing women over the age of 30 for the virus that causes the disease significantly improves healthcare professionals' ability to identify women at risk.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading global provider of sample and assay technologies. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue. Assay technologies are used to make such isolated bio-molecules visible. QIAGEN has developed and markets more than 500 sample and assay products as well as automated solutions for such consumables. The company provides its products to molecular diagnostics laboratories, academic researchers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and applied testing customers for purposes such as forensics, animal or food testing and pharmaceutical process control. QIAGEN's assay technologies include one of the broadest panels of molecular diagnostic tests available worldwide. This panel includes the digene HPV Test, which is regarded as a "gold standard" in testing for high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer, as well as a broad suite of solutions for infectious disease testing and companion diagnostics. As of December 31, 2011, QIAGEN employed nearly 3,900 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information about QIAGEN can be found at http://www.qiagen.com/.

Certain of the statements contained in this news release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. To the extent that any of the statements contained herein relating to QIAGEN's products, markets, strategy or operating results are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations and risks of dependency on logistics), variability of operating results, the commercial development of the applied testing markets, clinical research markets and proteomics markets, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics market, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy markets, competition, rapid or unexpected changes in technologies, fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN's products (including fluctuations due to the level and timing of customers' funding, budgets, and other factors), our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our infectious disease panels, difficulties in successfully adapting QIAGEN's products to integrated solutions and producing such products, the ability of QIAGEN to identify and develop new products and to differentiate its products from competitors' products, market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further information, refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Contacts:
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Dr. Thomas Theuringer
Director Public Relations
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+1-240-686-7425

Email: [email protected]

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Investor Relations:
John Gilardi
VP Corporate Communications
+49-2103-29-11711
+1-301-240-686-2222

Albert F. Fleury
Investor Relations North America
+1-301-944-7028

Email: [email protected]
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SOURCE QIAGEN N.V.