Qiagen - Application Areas

Application Areas

Until the mid-2000s, the company was mainly a provider of sample technologies for the academic research market. Today, Qiagen’s product portfolio includes sample and assay technologies along with specific automation solutions in the following 4 markets:

Molecular Diagnostics (MDx): Molecular diagnostics detect the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) of target diseases or pathogens in samples such as blood or tissue. These procedures can help detect viruses and bacteria more rapidly and with far greater sensitivity and specificity. Qiagen’s portfolio in molecular diagnostics covers 4 main application areas:

• Prevention: The screening of asymptomatic patients such as HPV testing for detection of high-risk types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer.

• Profiling: The testing of patients who are at risk of carrying a disease such as Hepatitis, HIV, TB etc. Qiagen manufactures more than 120 molecular diagnostic tests for use in profiling.

• Personalized Healthcare: The optimization of treatments for symptomatic, pre-diagnosed patients. Potential applications of these tests primarily focus on the treatment of various cancers.

• Point of Need: Low-throughput molecular testing in settings that lack a laboratory infrastructure yet require fast turnaround.

Applied Testing (AT): Applied Testing is the use of molecular biology/diagnostics in practical, non-clinical applications such as veterinary medicine, forensics, food-quality monitoring and protection against biological hazards. Qiagen's portfolio includes:

• Food safety: tests for pathogens (such as salmonella, legionella and listeria), allergens, genetically modified organisms as well as food origin and quality.

• Veterinary medicine: tests for pathogens (such as bird flu, for which Qiagen was the first company to offer an approved test) as well as pandemic prevention and monitoring.

• Forensics: tests used to identify victims, prosecute criminals and determine paternity or lineage.

Academic Research: The life science research market encompasses all disciplines focusing on living organisms such as humans, animals, plants or bacteria (e.g., biochemistry, biomedicine or genetic engineering). Much of the research is done on a molecular level targeting DNA, RNA and proteins and helps scientists to comprehend basic processes in cells and organisms.

Qiagen introduced the first kit for purification of plasmids – small ring-shaped DNA molecules in bacterial cells – in 1986, cutting the preparation time for plasmids from between two and three days down to two hours. The company has a global market share exceeding 70% for certain sample preparation technologies.

Pharmaceutical Industry: Multinational pharmaceutical companies use molecular sample and assay technologies in all phases of the drug development process, from the fundamental pharmaceutical research stage, through preclinical and clinical studies, to the commercialization and application of new products.

Qiagen technologies can be used to identify genes that participate in the emergence of diseases, carry out studies on the functions and interactions between genes (or proteins) in entire biological pathways, identify and validate potential biomarkers and identify and evaluate therapeutic target molecules and suitable active agent candidates. Qiagen's products can also be used in the execution of the clinical studies.