QIAGEN and Inova Translational Medicine Institute Introduce New Database of Ethnically and Phenotypically Diverse Whole Genome Information

REDWOOD CITY, California, and FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, June 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) today announced the commercial launch of Inova Genomes, a unique compendium of ethnically, phenotypically, and ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequencing data for researchers seeking to accelerate cohort analysis programs or improve success rates in diagnostic odyssey cases. QIAGEN will serve as the exclusive distributor of the database, which is accessible via the company's secure and integrated Ingenuity® Variant Analysis and CLC Biomedical Genomics Workbench platforms.

The Inova Genomes dataset was built by ITMI from a collection of more than 7,000 whole genomes derived from over 2,800 families who consented to make this information available to support advances in disease research. Unlike NIH-funded genomic studies, which must make their data publicly available, privately funded studies like those of ITMI do not have this requirement. However, ITMI feels that it has an ethical duty to contribute to collaborative efforts by diverse groups working to better understand human health, and that QIAGEN can offer a unique opportunity to achieve this while stringently protecting participant confidentiality. Using their own bioinformatics tools or QIAGEN's proprietary bioinformatics tools, researchers can easily and interactively mine these data directly for hypothesis generation and validation, including in combination with their own data for improved resolution of diagnostic odyssey cases and the reduction of false-positive rates.

"We are honored to collaborate with ITMI to make this new big data offering available for the benefit of therapeutic discovery and patient care around the world," said Douglas Bassett, Ph.D., Chief Science and Technology Officer for QIAGEN's Bioinformatics Business Area. "Inova Genomes is the latest addition to QIAGEN's industry leading portfolio of databases that includes Ingenuity Knowledge Base, HGMD and the Allele Frequency Community. Paired with our integrated bioinformatics solutions, these expertly curated content resources can be mined and queried through QIAGEN's interpretation solutions. These comprehensive, easy-to-use solutions are helping advance disease research and drive the adoption of next generation sequencing in clinical settings."

"ITMI developed this one-of-a-kind dataset to help our clinicians and clinical researchers better understand genetic disease and optimize patient care. By enabling more researchers to access this previously unavailable resource, we believe they can develop a better understanding of familial and ancestral components of disease and have an even greater impact on improving human health and advancing precision medicine," said John Niederhuber, M.D., Chief Executive Officer at ITMI. "ITMI is pleased to be working with QIAGEN to provide the clinical research community access to this new solution which can help them jump start a cohort analysis with immediate access to richly annotated data or serve as a control library to improve case solve rates and reduce false positives."

"We are very proud of the accomplishments of the Inova Translational Medicine Institute and our position as a leader in the application of genomes to patient care. We are excited to share these accomplishments with researchers around the world to provide even greater opportunities to advance our understanding of diseases," said Mark Stauder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Inova Health Systems.

"In precision medicine, your ability to make impactful decisions and discoveries from each new dataset rests heavily on analyzing the data in the richest context possible - how much information you have about other genomes, the health outcomes associated with those genomes and what's known from peer-reviewed published research," said Eric Schadt, Ph.D., Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology. "An ethnically diverse genome database like the Inova Genome database when paired with big data computation and expertly curated content resources such as the QIAGEN Ingenuity Knowledge Base, can dramatically advance disease research and drive the adoption of next generation sequencing in the clinical setting."

The Inova Genomes data was generated using next-generation sequencing and has been annotated with electronic health record information that includes: bifurcation of normal vs. disease patients with high-level diagnosis, detailed race, ethnicity/ancestry and demographics (e.g. age, gender), and genotype, haplotype, longitudinal data and pedigree information, among others. The therapeutic areas represented by organ system include: pulmonary, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, cardiac, hematological, musculoskeletal and connective, endocrine and immunity, neoplasms, neurological disorders, microbial infection, dermatological and ophthalmological. Expression by RNA-seq, miRNA and methylation data are also available for a subset of individuals as is the ability to pursue additional collaborations.

Inova Genomes is available as a standard and premium offering. A standard subscription provides access to VCF data annotated with detailed clinical information from de-identified electronic health records, accessible only via Ingenuity Variant Analysis and CLC Biomedical Genomics Workbench. Premium subscriptions include access to the full VCF, survey information on nutrition, environment, family history, stress and electronic health record data, BAM files, miRNA, RNA-seq and methylation data, and eligibility for access to biobanked samples and patient re-contact rights for trial recruitment.

For more information on Inova Genomes, please visit http://qiagenbioinformatics.com/inovagenomes.

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 March 31, 2015, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,300 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

About Inova Translational Medicine Institute 

The Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) is a not-for-profit research institute delving into the genomics component of personalized medicine. ITMI is utilizing genomic and clinical information from patients to develop innovative methods for personalized patient care. Studies at the Institute have generated a large genomic and clinical data set that can be used in a variety of fields, from computational biology to neurology as well as biomedical research applications. ITMI's goal is to utilize information from its studies to better understand and predict the onset of disease, leading to the implementation of preventive medicine based on the unique genomics of the individual patient.

About Inova 

Inova is a not-for-profit health care system located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, serving over two million people with over 1,700 licensed beds across Northern Virginia.  Inova consists of five hospitals including the area's only Level 1 Trauma Center for critical patients and Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  Inova encompasses many health services including the nationally and internationally recognized Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI), Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) on genomics, Inova Neuroscience Institute and Inova Children's Hospital.  Inova Fairfax Medical Campus was recently named #1 best hospital in the Washington region by U.S. News & World Report for the third consecutive year. All five Inova hospitals ranked in the top 15 in the state of Virginia. Inova's mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research.  More information at http://www.inova.org.

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 (SEC). 

QIAGEN Contacts:
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Investor Relations:
John Gilardi
Vice President Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
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Email: ir@qiagen.com
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Inova Contact:
Tony Raker
Public Relations Officer
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SOURCE QIAGEN N.V.