PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, and SHANGHAI, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and Calmette Hospital, a leading healthcare institution in Cambodia, conducted a day-long outreach for cervical cancer prevention on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 12, 2013. The event included a "flash mob," organized by more than 150 youth volunteers using social media to call people together for special performances and a public forum, in addition to a workshop, medical training and distribution of literature on the prevention of cervical cancer.
Cambodia has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in Southeast Asia (27.4 cases per 100,000 females) and the region’s highest mortality rate (10.9 deaths per 100,000 females), according to the latest data. Cervical cancer is the most common cancer for women in Cambodia. Yet the disease is preventable through a combined regime of testing for human papillomavirus (HPV), an infection that is the primary cause of cervical cancer, as well as through the use of HPV vaccines.
QIAGEN, the global leader in HPV screening technologies for the prevention of cervical cancer, signed an agreement with Calmette Hospital in 2012 for a pilot project aiming to implement the optimal HPV screening solution with high sensitivity and specificity for Cambodian women. Data generated will provide input for national screening guidelines to reduce the country’s burden of cervical cancer.
The May 12 event ran from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Kampong Speu Province west of Phnom Penh and was part of a national cervical cancer prevention campaign led by Calmette Hospital. Hospital experts provided a workshop for healthcare workers on cervical cancer prevention at 9:30 a.m. and training for doctors and nurses in screening procedures at 10:30 a.m. The flash mob began at 3 p.m., followed by a public forum at 3:30 p.m. In the forum, youth volunteers from the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia, SSEAYP International Cambodia and various universities in Phnom Penh performed a role play on cervical cancer prevention. Professor Kruy Leang Sim, Undersecretary of State in charge of cervical cancer prevention for the Ministry of Health, and H.E. Hun Many, Personal Secretary to Prime Minister Hun Sen, offered remarks on the importance of screening and other preventive approaches.
"We are pleased that Cambodia is taking a proactive stance to combat cervical cancer, a preventable but deadly disease afflicting women. QIAGEN is working closely with Calmette Hospital on the strategy for preventive HPV screening, a key to saving lives and reducing the devastating human and economic costs," said Dr. Victor Shi, President of QIAGEN Asia Pacific. "Awareness by the public and healthcare workers is the first step toward defeating the disease."
"Calmette Hospital is committed to providing the very best care to bring down Cambodia’s high burden from cervical cancer – and that includes outreach and educational efforts on screening and prevention, as well as the treatment of women with HPV infection and cervical cancer itself. The May 12 events, including the ‘flash mob’ public forum and the medical training, will help spread the truth that cervical cancer can be prevented by implementing a few straightforward steps," said Dr. Hav Monirath, head of the Pathology Laboratory at Calmette Hospital.
QIAGEN markets the digene HC2 HPV Test, the gold standard molecular diagnostic, which has been used more than 90 million times to screen women around the world for HPV. In 2012 QIAGEN’s careHPV Test, the only DNA test designed for HPV screening in low-resource areas lacking laboratory infrastructure, was approved by China’s Food and Drug Administration. QIAGEN is now launching careHPV across China as a complementary product to digene HC2.
About QIAGEN
QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample & Assay Technologies that are used to transform biological materials into valuable molecular information. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue. Assay technologies are then used to make these isolated biomolecules visible and ready for interpretation. QIAGEN markets more than 500 products around the world, selling both consumable kits and automation systems to customers through four customer classes: 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, 2013, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,000 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.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, including without limitation its expected operating results, 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).
