QIAGEN Welcomes 3,000th Employee in 20th year of U.S. ...( VALENCIA Calif. and GERMANTOWN Md. De...)

VALENCIA, Calif. and GERMANTOWN, Md., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- QIAGEN (Nasdaq: QGEN, Frankfurt: QIA), which has its global headquarters in the Netherlands and United States offices in five locations, brought on board its 3,000th employee this month. Company officers hailed this growth as a symbol of the biotech company's continued strong performance and outlook, and pledged to sustain its investment both in the U.S. and abroad. QIAGEN is the leading provider of sample and assay technologies, which are designed to unlock the secrets of DNA to help scientists understand the building blocks of life, detect biological agents that can cause disease and facilitate law enforcement. The company's 3,000th employee joined QIAGEN's facility in Valencia, Calif.

"The U.S. is the largest market for QIAGEN and key to our global success," says Dr. Hans Peter Fatscher, Chairman of the Americas Management Council. "It accounts for 52 percent of QIAGEN's total revenues and a third of our global workforce. In North America -- particularly at our U.S. headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland -- we have benefited from a well-trained workforce, access to the latest technologies and other favorable conditions that help us grow the entire company. There is no other market that allows us to so rapidly turn innovation into commercial success."

QIAGEN entered the U.S. market in 1988, when it opened a one-person office in Los Angeles. Today, the company employs close to 1,000 employees in five U.S. locations, generating annual sales of approximately $500 million. Over the past 20 years, QIAGEN has invested more than $2 billion in the U.S., including its $1.6 billion merger with Gaithersburg, MD based Digene Corp. in 2007.

According to Douglas Liu, Vice President of Global Operations and member of the company's Global Execut
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