| COVANCE OPENS NEW CENTRAL LABORATORY IN SINGAPORE |
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PRINCETON, N.J., 19 June 2000 — Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD) has announced the official opening of its new central laboratory in Singapore. The facility provides, among other services, sophisticated medical sample testing and data management essential to conducting efficient pharmaceutical clinical trials worldwide. An official opening ceremony attended by staff from the National Science and Technology Board (NSTB), the Economic Development Board (EDB), colleagues from the pharmaceutical industry, equipment vendors, and research investigators was held today at the 55-square-meter laboratory and office building. The facility also houses the Company's already operational Singapore-based clinical development team and is expected to house a 600-square-meter clinical trial drug distribution center that is expected to open in July 2000.
"With this new operation in Singapore, Covance is aiming to reduce the significant time and cost of global drug development for our pharmaceutical clients by enabling faster and more efficient access to laboratory data generated in the region," said F. John Mills, MD, Corporate Senior Vice President and President, Clinical Support Services for Covance. "In addition, this initiative will help protect the safety of Asian patients in clinical trials by providing safety testing results to physicians within 24 hours after samples are drawn in most cases. This is significantly faster than was previously possible due to the time involved in transporting samples to laboratories in Europe and Australia."
On-site instrumentation at the facility will initially focus on conducting time-sensitive tests, such as chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, and pregnancy tests. Shipments from most countries in Asia, including Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, will be processed 24-hours a day acting in tandem through an exclusive association Covance has with Sonic Healthcare Limited based in Sydney, Australia.
"Singapore will tap into the Australian lab's unique features, such as their capacity to process most esoteric tests on site," Dr. Chiew-Yan Lee, PhD, MRCPath, who is the Laboratory Director. "This way, we can optimize both operations, provide our customer base with an expedited logistical central point in Singapore, and avoid duplicating services or efforts already implemented in the Australian operation. The result will provide a combinable data product worldwide for all of our customers."
Covance, which operates central laboratory facilities in Indianapolis, USA and Geneva, Switzerland and has exclusive associations in Cape Town, South Africa and Sydney, Australia, has the largest laboratory devoted exclusively to global pharmaceutical development. The company has pioneered many specialized services, including data-driven patient management, clinical protocol and investigator compliance monitoring, and unique laboratory specimen management systems.
Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with 1999 revenues of $829 million, global operations, and approximately 7,600 employees worldwide. Information on Covance's products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through our 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 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, 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. |
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