Qiagen - History

History

1984 - Qiagen is established on November 29 by a team of scientists at the University of Düsseldorf.

1986 - Qiagen launches its first product, a kit for purification of plasmids – small ring-shaped DNA molecules in bacterial cells – cutting the preparation time for plasmids from between two and three days down to two hours.

1996 - The initial public offering of Qiagen on the technology-oriented Nasdaq stock exchange (the first German company to do so)

1997 - The initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Germany).

2006 - Qiagen establishes its Asia regional headquarters in Shanghai.

2007 - Sales reach US$649.8 million and the number of employees surpasses 2,600. Qiagen acquires Digene for US$1.6 billion, making Qiagen an industry leader in molecular diagnostics (by revenue) and a leader in diagnostics for disease prevention.

2009 - Qiagen begins building its Personalized Healthcare business through the acquisition of DxS Ltd (a deal valued at ~US$ 95 million) and SABiosciences Corp. (a deal valued at ~US$ 9 million). At the end of 2009 Qiagen surpasses the US$1 billion revenue mark and has over 3,500 employees. Qiagen becomes one of the first companies to release a clinically verified diagnostic test for the detection of H1N1, more commonly known as Swine Flu.

2010 - Qiagen acquires ESE GmbH, giving the company access to point of need testing devices for the application of molecular diagnostic tests without laboratory infrastructure. Qiagen launches the QIAsymphony AS® and QIAsymphony RGQ® platforms, adding to the company’s portfolio for laboratory workflow automation and molecular test full-process automation respectively.

2011 - Qiagen acquires Ipsogen S.A. for ~US$101, adding to the company’s product and IP portfolio in the blood cancer space and developing its position in molecular diagnostics for oncology. Qiagen also acquires Cellestis Limited for ~US$ 374 million, giving the company access to QuantiFERON® technology for disease detection and prevention. The company adds two new offices in the Asia Pacific region in New Delhi, India and Taipei, Taiwan. The company announces a comprehensive restructuring program to focus on high-growth areas such as personalized medicine and business in emerging markets. The program includes workforce reduction and internal restructuring affecting approximately 10% of the company’s 3,900 positions.