Covance Inc. Receives SFDA GLP Certification for Its Early Development Facility in Shanghai, China

PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD) today announced that its early development facility located in Shanghai, China, has received a Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Certificate from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of the People’s Republic of China. The Covance facility in Shanghai provides nonclinical safety assessment, bioanalytical, in vivo pharmacology, and DMPK services.

Since opening its early development facility in Shanghai in August 2010, Covance has secured several key accreditations from international regulatory bodies. In February 2011 the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) awarded full accreditation to the company’s early development research facility. The company also received GLP certification from the Belgian GLP Monitoring Authority, a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in September 2011. The most recent accreditation from the SFDA demonstrates that Covance continues to invest in China to offer its clients a full range of expert nonclinical and chemistry services.

“Covance is now the only global CRO with SFDA GLP certification in China. Our early development facility in Shanghai offers world-class quality and expertise to companies with testing needs in China and the Asia Pacific region. Partnering with Covance in China will provide the gateway for local and regional pharmaceutical companies to access global markets and help save clients’ time and costs in their drug development process,” said Honggang Bi, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Covance China.

“Covance’s early development facilities offer a comprehensive range of nonclinical drug development services to clients around the globe, helping them make fast and effective drug development decisions to progress their most promising product candidates. In addition to our early development facility in Shanghai, we also offer clinical and central laboratory services to clients across Asia, making Covance the only CRO with the expertise to develop a molecule from discovery through all preclinical and clinical milestones. We believe this makes Covance a ‘one stop shop’ for companies wishing to develop drug candidates in Asia and across the globe,” added Steve Street, Global Vice President and General Manager, overseeing Covance’s worldwide safety assessment and pharmaceutical chemistry services.

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 $2 billion, global operations in more than 30 countries, and more than 11,000 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, such as statements about prospective earnings, savings, revenue, operations, revenue and earnings growth and other financial results 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 and 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, risks associated with acquisitions and investments, the Company’s ability to increase order volume, the pace of translation of orders into revenue in late-stage development services, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, and other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations.

SOURCE Covance Inc.

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