PROVIDENCE, R.I. and HILDEN, Germany, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that its mericon® Salmonella spp. kit in combination with the QIAsymphony RGQ automation platform has received validation from the AOAC Research Institute, an independent third party organization that evaluates analytical methods for use in food safety and other testing. The mericon® kit provides all necessary reagents for detection of Salmonella subspecies (or spp.) and runs on the QIAsymphony RGQ modular system, which automates entire workflows from food sample to the final result. The AOAC Research Institute validated the mericon® kit on QIAsymphony RGQ, as well as manual use, for low- and high-throughput testing of eight different food sample types. QIAGEN is exhibiting its technologies, including the Salmonella workflow, this week at the annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) in Providence, Rhode Island.
"Achieving this validation of our QIAsymphony RGQ automated workflow in finding Salmonella, the most significant market opportunity in safeguarding food safety, adds further momentum to the dissemination of our instruments and test kits in the Applied Testing market. Our emerging food safety testing portfolio is very rapidly growing," said Dr. Dietrich Hauffe, Senior Vice President, Life Sciences Business Area, of QIAGEN. "As a result of this key certification, food industry labs can now process more samples and improve efficiency by automating their Salmonella workflow using our mericon® Salmonella spp. kit with QIAsymphony RGQ. This certification marks an important milestone, as further key assays in our broad food testing assay portfolio are targeting certification and a growing number of labs are adopting the QIAsymphony RGQ platform."
Sharon Brunelle, technical consultant for the AOAC Research Institute, said in a statement that QIAGEN "has demonstrated that the mericon workflow performs as well or better than the ISO reference method for selected foods, earning Performance Tested Method certification." AOAC Research Institute is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOAC INTERNATIONAL (AOAC), an international standards developing organization with a membership of more than 3,000 laboratory scientists and officials. The AOAC Performance Tested(SM) certification has international recognition.
Salmonella is a common bacterium in nature that can cause serious illness when ingested in contaminated food, drink or water. More than 1 million people a year in the United States suffer gastrointestinal sickness from Salmonella, which normally goes away after a few days but can be dangerous to elderly or vulnerable patients, according to the Food and Drug Administration. One type of Salmonella causes typhoid fever, a life-threatening infection that can produce high fevers and damage to vital organs or joints. Left untreated, about one in 10 patients with the typhoidal infection will die. The FDA estimates 1,800 people a year in the U.S. contract typhoid fever.
QIAGEN offers a range of innovative, high-quality solutions to help safeguard the food supply and continues to add content to address various threats to public health. QIAGEN's suite of food safety test kits covers all phases of testing for this global market, including DNA purification, screening for pathogens, genetically modified organism (GMO) detection, and ingredient authentication.
About QIAGEN
QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample & Assay Technologies that are used to transform biological materials into valuable molecular information. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue. Assay technologies are then used to make these isolated biomolecules visible and ready for interpretation. QIAGEN markets more than 500 products around the world, selling both consumable kits and automation systems to customers through four customer classes: Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (forensics, veterinary testing and food safety), Pharma (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of June 30, 2012, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,000 people in more than 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at 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, including without limitation its expected operating results, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions 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, regulatory processes and dependence on logistics), variability of operating results and allocations between customer classes, the commercial development of markets for our products in applied testing, personalized healthcare, clinical research, proteomics, women's health/HPV testing and nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics; changing relationships with customers, suppliers and strategic partners; competition; rapid or unexpected changes in technologies; fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN's products (including fluctuations due to general economic conditions, the level and timing of customers' funding, budgets and other factors); our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our products; 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 and protect our products from competitors' products; market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products, the consummation of acquisitions, and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further information, please refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Contacts:
Public Relations:
Dr. Thomas Theuringer
Director Public Relations
+49 2103 29 11826
+1 240 686 7425
Email: pr@qiagen.com
www.twitter.com/qiagen
www.qiagen.com/about/press
Investor Relations:
John Gilardi
VP Corporate Communications
+49 2103 29 11711
+1 240 686 2222
Albert F. Fleury
Investor Relations North America
+1 240 686 7400
Email: ir@qiagen.com
www.qiagen.com/about/investorrelation
SOURCE QIAGEN N.V.
