VENLO, Netherlands–QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to supply molecular sample and assay technologies for a new national, PCR-based blood screening program for HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) in Brazil. QIAGEN will provide Bio-Manguinhos, the main provider of vaccines and diagnostics to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, with a significant volume of molecular testing solutions – sample and assay technologies, related instrumentation, operational know-how and training. Following the approval by the Brazilian patent authorities, the agreement will run for five years and contains options for subsequent extensions.

Brazil’s new national screening program is scheduled to start in 2010. It marks the largest initiative in the country’s history of blood donations safety. Every year, five million blood donations are performed in Brazil (with a population of 190 million South America’s largest country), of which 70% are conducted by public blood banks. Approximately 0.1% and 0.3% of these donations are tested positive for HIV and HCV, respectively. Since most of these tests are performed with older, less sensitive serological methods, experts believe that the actual number of positive cases could be higher than officially reported. The new program marks the effort to complement these traditional, immunodiagnostic tests with nucleic-acid-based, molecular assays that are considered significantly more sensitive in detecting infection. They help close the “diagnostic window” between the time of an infection and laboratory diagnosis by enabling faster treatment and reducing the ability of an infection to spread – thereby further increasing the safety of the blood supply.

“Nucleic-acid testing is the premium public health option to help prevent often transfusion-transmitted diseases such as AIDS or Hepatitis C”, said Dr. Akira Homma, Director of Bio-Manguinhos. “Furthermore, the increased quality of screened blood from donations will also allow the public health system to gain high quality and safer plasma products in sufficient volumes. Therefore, the new screening program will also reduce the country’s demand for costly imports of plasma products which are needed to treat patients suffering from Hemophilia and other blood disorders.”

For QIAGEN, this contract marks another, significant step in its expansion into the emerging Latin and South American markets. This expansion reflects the company’s efforts to supply integrated molecular testing solutions for the improvement of health and living conditions in the region. In October 2008, QIAGEN and the Mexican Public Health Agency SSA signed an agreement for the supply of sample and assay technologies to be used in a national screening program for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer.

“Molecular diagnostic methods are key to making blood donations safer, and it is our goal to make these life saving technologies available to governments and their people throughout the world”, said Peer M. Schatz, CEO of QIAGEN. “We are proud to team up with the Brazilian authorities in a combined effort to significantly reduce the number of blood-borne transmissions of HIV and HCV and the resulting disease burden.” QIAGEN expects to launch further collaborations on screening programs with governments in emerging countries in the future. The company offers a wide range of technology and branding options for such programs.

Under the terms of this agreement, QIAGEN’s extraction and testing components will be included in the screening kits and sold in a format featuring Bio-Manguinhos’s name and branding. The kits will run on a high-throughput multiplex PCR platform which allows processing of large numbers of samples and detecting multiple pathogens in one single run. The highly automated platform – which includes an advanced control system based on biosafe viruses developed and patented by Bio-Manguinhos – has demonstrated excellent screening results in the field test. The partnership between QIAGEN and Bio-Manguinhos also involves technical advice for implementation of the production of enzymes and buffers in Brazil, but excludes the delivery of primers and probes. These integral test components, essentially needed to make virus sequences visible, are developed and provided by Bio-Manguinhos.

About Bio-Manguinhos

Bio-Manguinhos is a technical-scientific unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and one of the official laboratories of the Ministry of Health. Their activities are focused on responding to the government health programs. The institute operates strategically along with the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), supporting the disease prevention policies, epidemiological, sanitary and controlling surveillance, through research, development and technological innovation in the immunobiological area. Bio-Manguinhos employs a staff of around 1,150 and is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro.

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 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 the “gold standard” in testing for high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer. QIAGEN employs more than 3,100 people in over 30 locations worldwide. Further information about QIAGEN can be found at http://www.qiagen.com/.

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