GAITHERSBURG, Md. and TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 19, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- QIAGEN Gaithersburg Inc. (formerly Digene Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq:QGEN) (Frankfurt:QIA) ("QIAGEN" or the "Company"), and Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:VMSI) today announced that on December 15, 2007 they agreed to a settlement of the litigation of expired patents 4,849,331 and 4,849,332 pending between them on mutually agreeable terms. As part of that settlement an undisclosed cash consideration was paid by Ventana to QIAGEN and QIAGEN acknowledges that pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement dated September 23, 2002, Ventana has lawfully succeeded to the rights of Beckman Coulter under the Cross-License Agreement originally entered into between Institut Pasteur and Life Technologies, Inc., effective April 1, 1990, and under the Agreement between Institut Pasteur and Beckman Instruments (now Beckman Coulter), effective June 7, 1991.
The settlement was in reference to currently expired U.S. Patent No. 4,849,331 titled "Human Papillomavirus 44 Nucleic Acid Hybridization Probes and methods for Employing the Same" and U.S. Patent No. 4,849,332 titled "Human Papillomavirus 35 Nucleic Acid Hybridization Probes and methods for Employing the Same."
About QIAGEN
QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading provider of innovative sample and assay technologies and products. QIAGEN's products are considered standards in areas such pre-analytical sample preparation and assay solutions in research for life sciences, applied testing and molecular diagnostics. QIAGEN has developed a comprehensive portfolio of more than 500 proprietary, consumable products and automated solutions for sample collection, nucleic acid and protein handling, separation, and purification and open and target specific assays. The company's products are sold to academic research markets, to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, to applied testing customers (such as in forensics, veterinary, biodefense and industrial applications) as well as to molecular diagnostics laboratories. QIAGEN employs more than 2,600 people in more than 30 locations worldwide. QIAGEN products are sold through a dedicated sales force and a global network of distributors in more than 40 countries. Further information about QIAGEN can be found at www.qiagen.com.
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About Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
Ventana develops, manufactures, and markets instrument/reagent systems that automate tissue preparation and slide staining in clinical histology and drug discovery laboratories worldwide. The Company's clinical systems are important tools used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Ventana's drug discovery systems are used to accelerate the discovery of new drug targets and evaluate the safety of new drug compounds. Visit the Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. website at www.ventanamed.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 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).