GERMANTOWN, Md., April 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
- Investment of $10 million in Germantown and Frederick campuses brings QIAGEN's total recent commitment in Maryland to $50 million
- Germantown campus becomes state-of-the-art research, manufacturing and office site for Molecular Diagnostics with consolidation of activities from Gaithersburg site
- Germantown site passes FDA pre-approval inspection to manufacture digene HC2 HPV Test
- Uniting R&D, marketing and manufacturing for Molecular Diagnostics at Germantown strengthens presence, especially for market-leading QIAGEN tests in disease prevention
QIAGEN today announced plans to combine its three Maryland sites into two campuses and invest an additional $10 million to accommodate expected future growth. The company will close its current site at Gaithersburg, Maryland and move the Gaithersburg activities to nearby Germantown, Maryland, by early 2015. The Germantown campus will also become the manufacturing site for some of QIAGEN's highest-volume diagnostic assays, including the digene HC2 HPV Test for cervical cancer prevention, after passing a recent FDA pre-approval inspection with no "483" observations (or non-conformances). In the future QIAGEN also plans to move manufacturing to Germantown for the rapidly growing QuantiFERON-TB Gold test for latent tuberculosis (TB).
QIAGEN's campus in Frederick, Maryland, less than 20 miles from the Germantown site, already has expanded in the past three years and will continue its focus on R&D and manufacturing of molecular testing products for life sciences research and other applications.
"Combining three Maryland sites into two will strengthen our presence by bringing QIAGEN's people together to encourage closer collaboration. At Germantown, we are creating a global focus on Molecular Diagnostics for disease prevention, including women's health and tuberculosis, by placing our R&D teams on the same campus with marketing and manufacturing for those products," said Douglas Liu, Senior Vice President, Operations. "QIAGEN's investment of $10 million in the Maryland locations, added to our investment over the past two years, brings our total recent commitment to $50 million. This upgrade will prepare us for expected growth in the coming years, including moving additional support to Maryland for several rapidly growing product lines."
Sean Augerson, Vice President Supply Chain ＆ Strategic Partner Management, added: "We are very pleased with the successful FDA pre-approval inspection for the Germantown site to manufacture our digene HC2 HPV Test, the world's gold standard molecular diagnostic for prevention of cervical cancer in women. Uniting multiple functions at the Germantown campus will help QIAGEN continue to serve diagnostic laboratories with the highest-quality, reliable technologies to make improvements in life possible."
QIAGEN currently has a total of approximately 550 employees at the three Maryland sites. The Gaithersburg facility was leased, while the Germantown facility is owned by QIAGEN.
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 December 31, 2013, 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).
SOURCE QIAGEN
