QIAGEN Reaches Milestone with Portfolio of Master Collaboration Agreements for Pharma Companion Diagnostics

QIAGEN has announced it has reached a milestone in its portfolio of master collaboration agreements with leading pharmaceutical companies, and a record number of new projects in 2015 for the co-development of companion diagnostics.

Among the record number of new projects was the start of a master collaboration agreement with Array BioPharma, which became the 15^th pharma partner to work with QIAGEN on these comprehensive agreements that cover multiple projects.

An initial project with Array will be to develop and commercialize a QIAGEN molecular diagnostic test paired with binimetinib, a novel MEK inhibitor currently in Phase III clinical trials for use in patients with NRAS-mutant melanoma. This companion diagnostic test will run on the Rotor-Gene Q MDx, a PCR platform that is a member of the modular QIAsymphony family of automation solutions.

“We are very pleased to partner with Array BioPharma to develop companion diagnostics for their targeted therapies. The fact that so many pharma and biotech companies have joined with QIAGEN for these co-development projects, including five based on using our innovative liquid biopsy Sample Technologies to gain molecular insights from blood, underscores the trust in our Sample to Insight solutions,” said Peer M. Schatz, Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN. “This collaboration holds the promise to improve outcomes for cancer patients, involving the full range of QIAGEN platforms, in particular the GeneReader NGS System that was launched in late 2015 as the first truly complete workflow using next-generation sequencing.”

QIAGEN is at the forefront in developing companion diagnostics using genomic insights to guide the selection of medicines for cancer and other diseases. The company already markets Personalized Healthcare kits covering about 30 biomarkers, spanning a variety of automation platforms and biological sample types. QIAGEN continues to expand its pipeline of Sample to Insight technologies for personalized healthcare and intends to submit more tests for regulatory clearance or approval. Numerous co-development partnerships are underway with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, some publicly disclosed but most not individually announced.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions to transform biological materials into valuable molecular insights. QIAGEN sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective molecular testing workflows. QIAGEN provides these workflows to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (forensics, veterinary testing and food safety), Pharma (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of September 30, 2015, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,500 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.