VALENCIA, Calif. and GERMANTOWN, Md., Dec 15, 2008 — QIAGEN, which has its global headquarters in the Netherlands and United States offices in five locations, brought on board its 3,000th employee this month. Company officers hailed this growth as a symbol of the biotech company’s continued strong performance and outlook, and pledged to sustain its investment both in the U.S. and abroad. QIAGEN is the leading provider of sample and assay technologies, which are designed to unlock the secrets of DNA to help scientists understand the building blocks of life, detect biological agents that can cause disease and facilitate law enforcement. The company’s 3,000th employee joined QIAGEN’s facility in Valencia, Calif.

“The U.S. is the largest market for QIAGEN and key to our global success,” says Dr. Hans Peter Fatscher, Chairman of the Americas Management Council. “It accounts for 52 percent of QIAGEN’s total revenues and a third of our global workforce. In North America — particularly at our U.S. headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland — we have benefited from a well-trained workforce, access to the latest technologies and other favorable conditions that help us grow the entire company. There is no other market that allows us to so rapidly turn innovation into commercial success.”

QIAGEN entered the U.S. market in 1988, when it opened a one-person office in Los Angeles. Today, the company employs close to 1,000 employees in five U.S. locations, generating annual sales of approximately $500 million. Over the past 20 years, QIAGEN has invested more than $2 billion in the U.S., including its $1.6 billion merger with Gaithersburg, MD based Digene Corp. in 2007.

According to Douglas Liu, Vice President of Global Operations and member of the company’s Global Executive Committee, economic slowdowns are less likely to affect molecular diagnostics, biotech industry, life science research and QIAGEN than other sectors and companies. “Public and private budgets in the healthcare industry are more robust than in other sectors. And due to QIAGEN’s prominence in multiple laboratory applications in the U.S. and globally, our business is expected to continue growing,” says Liu. QIAGEN technologies are used to prepare and analyze biologic samples, such as blood and tissue and are regarded as standards in academic research, pharmaceutical research, forensic labs, molecular diagnostics and other research applications. Last month, QIAGEN announced strong quarterly results, allowing the company to raise its earnings guidance for the second time this year. The U.S. significantly contributed to this development, as the fastest growing global market segment for QIAGEN, with a growth rate of almost 30 percent.

“QIAGEN is one of Montgomery County’s great success stories, and its continued growth as a whole and, in particular, here at its U.S. headquarters in the county since 2002, illustrates the company’s strength and position as a leading global biotech company,” said Dr. Pradeep Ganguly, Director, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development. “QIAGEN is one of the largest biotechnology companies in Montgomery County and contributes significantly to the county’s position as a global biotech industry leader.”

Montgomery County, Maryland is home to more than 200 life sciences firms, 19 federal agencies, 30 federal labs, more than 60 international companies and more than 40,000 life science professionals working throughout the private sector, federal laboratories, foundations and academia.

According to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, foreign investment in the biotech sector — one of the fastest-growing business segments — accounts for more than 105,000 jobs in Maryland — or 5.5 percent of the state’s private sector employment. QIAGEN’s commitment is further evidence of Maryland’s position as one of the world’s leading locations for biotechnology innovation. Under Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s BIO 2020 initiative, Maryland intends to invest another $1.3 billion in the state’s bioscience industry — the largest per capita investment in the biosciences made by any state in the country — over the next 10 years to attract and further grow foreign and domestic biotech companies in the region.