QIAGEN Establishes Subsidiary in India to Accelerate Expansion

-- QIAGEN India Pvt. Ltd. will sell QIAGEN products directly in India, one of the fastest growing biotech and life sciences markets in Asia

-- Growing healthcare and research sectors drive India’s need for molecular diagnostics and testing technologies for applied markets as well as pharmaceutical and academic R&D

-- Revenue growth in India is expected to follow a similar trajectory to QIAGEN’s growth in China

GERMANTOWN, Md., HILDEN, Germany and NEW DELHI, Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- QIAGEN (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the formation of its India subsidiary, QIAGEN India Pvt. Ltd., and the beginning of direct sales in the country. Until now, QIAGEN products have been sold in India through distributor partnerships. QIAGEN has been active in India since 1995 and has developed numerous initiatives, partnerships and a strong network. The Company expects that this enhanced presence will further contribute to its position in the market. The new QIAGEN office, located in New Delhi, is a further milestone in QIAGEN’s strategy to expand its footprint in emerging, high-growth regions.

The Indian life sciences and biotech market is one of the fastest growing in the region.  In 2010, the domestic market in India grew to revenues of US$ 5 billion and is expected to approximately double by 2015. India’s domestic in vitro diagnostics market is projected to grow at 15% annually in the next several years and to accelerate going forward due to government incentive programs and infrastructure investment.

“India is a strategic market for the global expansion of QIAGEN, with 1.2 billion people and rapidly growing healthcare and R&D sectors,” said Peer Schatz, Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN. “The great potential for our molecular diagnostic technologies to serve patients in India, along with the research needs of the country’s robust pharmaceutical segment, emerging applied testing market and a rapidly increasing academic market, makes India a perfect fit for our growth and geographic expansion goals. We are excited about the prospects for QIAGEN to grow more rapidly with a presence in this vast market.”

The move to a deeper engagement in India is a further milestone for QIAGEN in Asia where it entered China in 2004 and Japan in 1998. Since then, the Company has expanded to more than 500 employees in Asia, with 2009 revenue in the region exceeding US$ 135 million, and believes that it has market leading positions in its focus markets. In the coming years, QIAGEN expects a growth trajectory in India similar to its successful experience in China. The New Delhi office is expected to grow to a staff of more than 30 in 2011.

QIAGEN’s diverse product portfolio is well suited to serve India’s unique healthcare needs, as well as to advance pharmaceutical R&D in India. As with other developing countries, India faces a double burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases. Demographic changes and rising living standards have also led to an increase in chronic diseases. With one of the broadest offerings in molecular diagnostics for profiling, prevention, personalized healthcare and point of need testing, as well as one of the largest sample and assay technology portfolios for drug development, QIAGEN is well positioned to serve the growing Indian market.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading global provider of sample and assay technologies. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue. Assay technologies are used to make such isolated bio-molecules visible. QIAGEN has developed and markets more than 500 sample and assay products as well as automated solutions for such consumables. The company provides its products to molecular diagnostics laboratories, academic researchers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and applied testing customers for purposes such as forensics, animal or food testing and pharmaceutical process control. QIAGEN's assay technologies include one of the broadest panels of molecular diagnostic tests available worldwide. This panel includes the digene HPV Test, which is regarded as a "gold standard" in testing for high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer, as well as a broad suite of solutions for infectious disease testing and companion diagnostics. QIAGEN employs nearly 3,600 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information about QIAGEN 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, and to expected growth of QIAGEN’s business in India in particular, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations 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 and risks of dependency on logistics), variability of operating results, the commercial development of the applied testing markets, clinical research markets and proteomics markets, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics market, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy markets, competition, rapid or unexpected changes in technologies, fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN's products (including fluctuations due to the level and timing of customers' funding, budgets, and other factors), our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our infectious disease panels, 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 its products from competitors' products, market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further information, refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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