Qiagen Asia Pacific and WuXi AppTec forged a pact to provide a single solution for molecular biomarker development, validation, and personalized healthcare targets to their respective clients. Qiagen will supply a complete portfolio of instrumentation, training, and consumables, and WuXi AppTec will provide laboratory facilities and staff to execute the services. The laboratory will be located at WuXi AppTec’s campus in Shanghai and will begin operating immediately.

Under the terms of the agreement, WuXi AppTec will also help Qiagen develop biomarkers, assay panels, molecular diagnostics, and other new products. WuXi AppTec will use Qiagen’s technologies to support the company’s and Qiagen’s customers’ drug discovery and development efforts. 

Qiagen has developed and markets over 500 sample and assay products as well as automated solutions for 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 the digeneHPV Test for testing high-risk types of HPV.

The alliance creates the first laboratory of its kind in Asia, according to Victor Shi, president, Qiagen Asia Pacific, equipped with a standardized, fully integrated, automated sample and assay technology for drug discovery, development, and molecular diagnostics. “We believe that this partnership is a significant milestone in providing high-quality and complete automated solutions for the molecular biomarker testing industry,” he notes.

The partnership with WuXi AppTec follows Qiagen’s recent acquisitions of DxS and SABiosciences to pad its offerings in the biomarker and personalized medicine field. Qiagen also recently opened its Asia headquarters in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang High-Technology Park. Qiagen began its expansion into Asia in 2005 and currently maintains 10 offices in China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and India. Including the subsidiary in Japan, these Asian operations currently contribute approximately 13% to the firm’s overall net sales, Qiagen notes.