QIAGEN and British Veterinary Laboratories Agency Expand Partnership in Veterinary Testing
November 05 2009 - 2:30AM
Business Wire
QIAGEN (NASDAQ:QGEN) (FWB:QIA) today announced an expansion of
its strategic partnership with the United Kingdom’s Veterinary
Laboratories Agency (VLA), one of the world’s leading research
institutions in veterinary science. Under the terms of the
agreement, QIAGEN has received the exclusive rights to
commercialize three new PCR-based tests for the detection of
widespread bacterial diseases in horses. Financial details have not
been disclosed.
The new tests developed with and validated by the VLA target
three different common bacterial infections: Streptococcus equi,
Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The first target Streptococcus equi is the primary cause of
strangles, a respiratory based infection leading to weight loss,
swellings, and abscesses, with mortality rates of up to 10 percent.
It is one of the most widespread diseases in horses and can persist
for several months, thereby leading to severe negative economic
impacts incurring from treatment costs and limited activity levels.
Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa cause Equine
metritis (EM), an infection of the genital tract of mares usually
passed on through sexual contact. The disease is highly contagious
and is detrimental to fertility. This poses a major problem for
thoroughbred breeders who are required to have their mares bred by
live cover.
Reliable and fast screening of horses for EM agents before
breeding, and rapid diagnosis of both Strangles and EM are
imperative to prevent transmission, contain outbreaks and enable
early antibiotic treatments. “Molecular technologies are already
the first choice in veterinary testing for many costly viral
diseases such as bovine viral diarrhea or bluetongue. We now also
are experiencing a growing demand for modern molecular technologies
enabling the fast and reliable detection of bacterial infections”,
said Simone Gauch, QIAGEN’s Senior Global Marketing Director
Applied Testing. “Our extended agreement with the VLA will help to
further strengthen our offering in this segment and enable us to
provide those advanced technologies to our customers
worldwide.”
The new assays will complement QIAGEN’s existing cador product
line of molecular tests for animal diseases, which are more
sensitive than traditional testing methods such as bacterial
cultures or immunodiagnostics. QIAGEN’s existing portfolio outside
the US already includes a PCR-based test for Taylorella
equigenitalis which is the cause of Contagious equine metritis.
Under the new agreement, QIAGEN plans to adapt this test to cover
additional bacteria causing infertility, including Klebsiella
pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This technology is
compatible with QIAGEN’s real-time PCR detection platform
Rotor-Gene Q and can potentially replace bacteriological cultures
currently needed for unequivocal diagnosis of Equine metritis.
“QIAGEN has proven to be a reliable and valuable partner with
strong sales channels and a global marketing reach”, said Andrew
Soldan, Commercial Programme Manager at the VLA. “We’re looking
forward to expanding our collaboration in order to help provide
international veterinary testing laboratories access to these
advanced technologies and therewith effectively fight some of the
most dangerous and costly animal diseases.”
QIAGEN and the VLA established their strategic partnership in
2006. Since then, QIAGEN has launched various PCR-based assays for
infectious livestock diseases; including a test for the bovine
viral diarrhea virus which played an important role in the
corresponding national eradication program in Switzerland. In 2007,
QIAGEN received the “Best Licensing Deal of the Year” award from
the renowned Animal Pharm magazine.
QIAGEN is the global market leader in Sample and Assay
Technologies for molecular veterinary testing. The global
veterinary testing market is estimated to exceed US$ 1.5 billion in
2009, with molecular sample and assay technologies accounting for
approximately US$ 300 million and growing at an average rate of
20%.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
estimates the worldwide horse population to exceed 58 million in
2007.
About QIAGENQIAGEN 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
biomolecules 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. QIAGEN
employs more than 3,200 people in over 30 locations worldwide.
Further information about QIAGEN can be found at
http://www.qiagen.com/.
About VLAVLA is an Executive Agency of the Department for
Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and is a regional
network of 16 laboratories. The Agency is one of the largest
research and diagnostic testing facilities of its kind in the
world. Its aim is to safeguard public and animal health through
world class research and surveillance of farmed livestock. VLA is
one of the world's most renowned reference laboratories for a wide
range of diseases in farm animals. More information on VLA can be
found at http://www.vla.gov.uk/.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENTStatements contained in this release
that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements,
including statements about our products, markets, strategy and
operating results. Such statements are based on current
expectations that involve risks and uncertainties including, but
not limited to, those associated with: management of growth and
international operations (including currency fluctuations and
logistics), variability of our operating results, commercial
development of our markets (including applied testing, clinical and
academic research, proteomics, women's health/HPV testing,
molecular diagnostics, personalized healthcare and companion
diagnostics), our relationships with customers, suppliers and
strategic partners, competition, changes in technology,
fluctuations in demand, regulatory requirements, identifying,
developing and producing integrated products differentiated from
our competitors' products, market acceptance of our products, and
integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further
information, refer to our filings with the SEC, including our
latest Form 20-F. Information in this release is as of the date of
the release, and we undertake no duty to update this information
unless required by law.
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