Covance Continues North American Expansion of Bioanalytical Services
Company Name: Covance
Address 1: 210 Carnegie Center
Address 2:
City: Princeton
State: NJ
Zip: 08540
Country: USA
Phone: 800-268-2623
URL: www.covance.com
Contact Name: Ron Lee
Organization:
Title:
E-mail: netpr@covance.com
Press Release:
Covance Continues North American Expansion of Bioanalytical Services
October 23, 2006
- Dr. Debra Barnes Joins as Director of Immunochemistry; Dr. Qin Ji as Senior Director of Bioanalytical Services -
Madison, Wisconsin, October 23, 2006 - Covance (NYSE: CVD) is pleased to announce that it is continuing to expand its Bioanalytical Services group with the appointments of Debra Barnes, Ph.D. and Qin Ji, Ph.D. "The market continues to be very attractive," states Jon Denissen, Vice President of Chemistry, North America. "With the increasing development of large molecules and the additional focus on biomarkers, our immunochemistry business has experienced tremendous growth both in staff size and in revenue over the last 12 to 18 months. The moves we are making in staffing and development reinforces what our clients need now and where we and the industry are headed."
New Director of Immunochemistry
Key to Covance's bioanalytical approach is Dr. Barnes, who will oversee the quality and scientific conduct of all immunochemistry projects. She will be directing both laboratory scientists as well as principal investigators who are responsible for the overall conduct of studies ongoing at Covance's Chantilly, Va. facility. Most recently, Dr. Barnes was Vice President of R&D at Metrigenix, where she developed the business model for various diagnostic biomarker assays.
"I am confident that the scientific, business, and leadership experience Dr. Barnes brings will allow us to accelerate the growth of our immunochemistry business and help sustain our image as a top immunochemistry and biomarker service provider," adds Denissen.
Dr. Barnes has more than 20 years of experience in molecular and cellular biology. After receiving her Ph.D. in 1985, she conducted extensive research in the areas of infectious diseases. She later joined Berlex Biosciences as project leader, where she led a drug discovery project team and developed cell-based and ELISA-based screening assays.
She then went on to build an Immunology and Neurobiology research group at Bayer Biotechnology. In 2001, Dr. Barnes joined Gene Logic as the Scientific Director, where she led the design and market launch of a gene expression profiling product, as well as identified gene sets and biomarkers diagnostic for a variety of autoimmune diseases.
New Senior Director of Bioanalytical Services Dr. Ji is the Senior Director of the Department of Bioanalytical Services, including both the Madison and Indianapolis laboratories. He is responsible for directing department staff to achieve quality, scientific and financial targets. Dr. Ji is also responsible for integrating bioanalytical services into Covance's comprehensive offering.
Dr. Ji joins Covance from Abbott Laboratories, where he was a section manager at the Department of Drug Analysis, and an Associate Research Fellow in the prestigious Volwiler scientific society. Prior to joining Abbott, Dr. Ji worked as an LCMS applications chemist at Thermo/Finnegan, a leading manufacturer of LCMS instruments.
"With more than 20 years of experience in working with mass spectrometry, Dr. Ji is expert in the theory and technique of LCMS bioanalysis and should make a significant contribution to the scientific expertise clients have come to expect from Covance," adds Denissen.
About Covance
Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with annual revenues greater than $1 billion, global operations in 20 countries, and approximately 8,000 employees worldwide. Information on Covance's products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through its website at www.covance.com.
Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such forward-looking statements including the statements contained herein regarding anticipated trends in the Company's business are based largely on management's expectations and are subject to and qualified by risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, competitive factors, outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical industry, levels of industry research and development spending, the Company's ability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel, the fixed price nature of contracts or the loss of large contracts, and other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Covance and the Covance logo are registered service marks of Covance in the United States and other countries.
Ron Lee
210 Carnegie Center
Princeton
08540
netpr@covance.com
800-268-2623
