QIAGEN agrees with BGI Tech to provide services based on the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) in Greater China

·         The collaboration follows QIAGEN’s integration with BIOBASE earlier this year

·         BGI Tech will provide services to the Greater China market with the widely used HGMD literature source

·         The collaboration is QIAGEN’s next step forward in expanding in emerging markets

 

Shenzhen, China and Wolfenbuettel, Germany, July 29, 2014 – QIAGEN and BGI Tech Solutions Co., Ltd. (BGI Tech), a subsidiary of BGI, the world’s largest genomics organization, today announced that they have entered into a distribution and service agreement for the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD^®) in Greater China. Under the agreement, BGI Tech will serve the Chinese market including providing first level support for the database.

 

In recent years, next-generation sequencing (NGS) has provided significant impetus for scientific progress, which is expected to have a positive impact on clinical research and medicine. By far the biggest challenge for today’s research is the processing, analysis and interpretation of the raw sequencing data.

 

HGMD is a unique resource providing comprehensive data on human inherited disease mutations for genetics and genomic research. It enables quick access to both single mutation queries and advanced search applications. Offered by BIOBASE, a QIAGEN company, HGMD is assembled by highly qualified subject-matter experts and organized in an accessible and easily searchable manner that enables scientists and clinical labs to identify connections between disparate pieces of information and apply that knowledge. It is widely used in human genetics research, diagnostics, and personal genomics applications and was an essential tool in analyzing the genomes assembled by the 1000 Genomes Project. Earlier this year, QIAGEN announced the expansion of its industry-leading portfolio of bioinformatics solutions with additional content from BIOBASE. Expert-curated hereditary variants from HGMD are now available to customers using QIAGEN’s Ingenuity Variant Analysis

 

Key features of HGMD include:

·         152,000+ mutation reports including specifics on genome coordinates, sequence details, and links to the source reference as well as public resources like dbSNP and OMIM

·         5,300+ summary reports listing all known inherited disease mutations for a given gene characterized by six different pathogenic variant classes

·         Advanced search functionality, including the ability to find mutations based on the type of nucleotide or amino acid change, or their location in a specific motif, splice site, or regulatory region

·         A mutation visualization tool which provides a graphical representation of the aligned DNA and protein sequences with color-coded mutated nucleotides for a selected gene

·         Ability to export customized mutation tracks for use in third-party genome browsers and analysis tools

 

Being a subsidiary of BGI, the world’s largest genomics research institute, BGI Tech provides advanced multi-omics and bioinformatics service solutions for its global customers in biomedical, agricultural, and environmental areas. To date, BGI Tech has offered premier services to more than 10,000 research institutes and 30,000 scientific partners. With this agreement, diagnostics labs, hospitals, pharmaceutical corporates, research and academic institutions in Greater China can benefit from the unique resource of HGMD through the services provided by BGI Tech.

 

“Known for their outstanding contributions to science, BGI is committed to excellence in everything they do, and want only the best-in-class solutions for their customers. Assessing mutations is an important need for many of their customers, so it is logical for them to represent HGMD. New and existing HGMD customers in Greater China will benefit from local support and from a distributor with deep subject-matter expertise.” said Frank Schacherer, CTO of BIOBASE.

 

“This is a win-win collaboration for both of us. BGI Tech dedicates to accelerating scientific progresses in biomedicine, agriculture, and environment. Collaborating with QIAGEN can enrich our scientific strengths in the fields of human genetics and complex diseases, and enable us to provide better services for our global collaborators.” said Yingrui Li, CEO of BGI Tech.

 

Today, there are more than 15,000 users worldwide that rely on QIAGEN’s bioinformatics products for interpretation. They have processed more than a quarter of a million genome sequences. Following the acquisitions and integration with Ingenuity Systems, CLC Bio and BIOBASE, QIAGEN has expanded its world leadership with the most comprehensive, high-quality and up-to-date literature source for clinical research and diagnosis – further strengthening its market-leading position in the analysis and interpretation of sequencing data. In China, QIAGEN started the footprint in the bioinformatics area in 2013 by initiating QIAGEN (Suzhou) Translational Medicine Research Co., Ltd., China’s first R&D company focusing on translational medicine.

 

For more information about HGMD, please visit: http://www.biobase-international.com/product/hgmd

 

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based 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 March 31, 2014, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,000 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

 

About BGI Tech

BGI Tech, established in 2012, is a subsidiary of BGI, the world’s largest genomics research institute. By providing superior scientific and technological services, BGI Tech aims to be the Premier Scientific Partner to researchers around the world. They provide One Stop and Total Solution services for its global biomedical, agricultural, and environmental customers. To date, BGI Tech has provided premier services to more than 10,000 research institutes and 30,000 scientific partners. Further information can be found at http://bgitechsolutions.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, new product developments, new product launches, regulatory submissions, and financing plans 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.