PRINCETON, NJ – July 27, 2009 – Covance Inc. today announced a substantial increase in global capacity and expertise to conduct metabolite identification supporting preclinical development and early human studies. The expansion increases Covance’s global scientific staff and state-of-the-art equipment supporting metabolite identification to enable clients to start studies sooner and obtain results faster.
Covance’s global scientific expertise dedicated to metabolite identification studies now includes 14 senior scientists located in Madison, Wisconsin and Harrogate, United Kingdom. New equipment brings the total instrumentation to five accurate mass Spectrometers, six QTrap® mass spectrometers and access to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis for unequivocal structural identification.
The additions at the Madison facility will better accommodate increased client demand resulting from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent Guidance for Industry on Safety Testing of Drug Metabolites. The Guidance recommends when and how to identify and characterize drug metabolites whose nonclinical toxicity needs evaluation.
“These additions build upon our track record of excellence in metabolite identification for preclinical development and early human studies conducted at Covance,”said Jon Denissen, vice president of Global DMPK, Covance. “This shows our commitment to provide clients faster results and with the highest level of expertise and quality.”
Covance has conducted hundreds of metabolite identification studies to date in Madison, Wisconsin and Harrogate, UK. Globally, Covance provides comprehensive drug metabolism services to most of top 50 pharmaceutical companies and hundreds of smaller pharmaceutical and biotech companies
About Covance
Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with annual revenues greater than $1.7 billion, global operations in more than 25 countries, and more than 9,800 employees worldwide. Information on Covance’s products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through its website at www.covance.com.
Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such forward-looking statements including the statements contained herein regarding anticipated trends in the Company’s business are based largely on management’s expectations and are subject to an qualified by risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, competitive factors, outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical industry, levels of industry research and development spending, the Company’s ability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel, the fixed price nature of contracts or the loss of large contracts, and other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Covance and the Covance are registered service marks of Covance in the United States and other countries.
