Bayer HealthCare, QIAGEN N.V. Partner on Cancer Companion Dx
HILDEN, Germany, October 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
QIAGEN and Bayer Healthcare signed collaboration agreement aimed at advancing both companies positions in personalized medicine
The programs pair QIAGEN companion diagnostic solutions with innovative targeted therapies for patients with solid tumors developed by Bayer HealthCare
Agreement provides framework for further collaboration projects
QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) and Bayer HealthCare today announced a collaboration agreement for the development and commercialization of companion diagnostics paired with novel Bayer HealthCare drugs, initially to enhance the treatment of various solid tumors. Companion diagnostics are tests that unlock molecular information from each patient's tumor genome to guide treatment decisions with medications for cancers or other diseases. The parties will also collaborate on the development of novel technologies for patient profiling which may result in innovative research-use-only products for exploratory and translational medicine. Financial details were not disclosed.
The targeted companion diagnostics will be designed to run on the QIAsymphony family of automated instruments, which is transforming laboratory workflows and helping disseminate standardized, regulator-approved diagnostics.
"We are very pleased to partner with Bayer HealthCare in developing companion diagnostics to improve life for cancer patients. As healthcare providers increasingly select the right drugs based on each individual's genomic information, the treatment of cancer is undergoing a revolution," said Dr. Helge Lubenow, Senior Vice President Molecular Diagnostics Business Area and Member of the Executive Committee of QIAGEN. "The first collaborations for Bayer HealthCare and QIAGEN include companion diagnostics based on the identification of patients who may respond to therapies in clinically unmet disease classifications. Our agreement also lays the groundwork for a strong partnership in creating future companion diagnostics both inside and outside of oncology."
"Partnering with QIAGEN on companion diagnostics will help Bayer HealthCare to develop innovative therapies, enabling physicians to analyze DNA and proteins from each patient. This helps to design more efficient clinical trials and to increase the overall probability of therapeutic success for patients suffering from cancer," said Prof. Dr. Andreas Busch, Head of Global Drug Discovery and Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare.
QIAGEN is a leading partner globally in developing and validating companion diagnostics to guide the selection of medicines in treating cancer and other diseases. In July 2012, QIAGEN received FDA approval for the therascreen® KRAS RGQ PCR Kit as a companion diagnostic in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The U.S. rollout of therascreen KRAS builds on a strong global leadership position which includes successes in Japan, where regulators approved the therascreen KRAS and EGFR kits in 2011 and in Europe, where QIAGEN offers 10 CE-marked assays for personalized healthcare applications.
In addition to the Bayer HealthCare collaboration, QIAGEN has more than 15 projects under way to co-develop and market companion diagnostics with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
About Bayer HealthCare
The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of EUR 17.2 billion (2011), is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care and Pharmaceuticals divisions. Bayer HealthCare's aim is to discover, develop, manufacture and market products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Bayer HealthCare has a global workforce of 55,700 employees (Dec 31, 2011) and is represented in more than 100 countries. More information at http://www.healthcare.bayer.com.
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 over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://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:
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Director Public Relations
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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