What are some of the benefits of this test?
The throughput is 180 patient samples per-day per-careHPV instrument system. Two plates can be run easily and comfortably every day. The robust, portable, and easy-to-use careHPV assay, instrument and collection devices are designed for areas with limited infrastructure and can provide results during the patient visit.

The system has color coded, easy-to-understand menus, contained reagents, and tolerates temperature variations that occur in rural clinics lacking refrigeration for sample storage due to limited electricity or water. Non-medical staff can be trained within hours to use the careHPV system and the test also has been shown to avoid cross-contamination of samples even in the most stringent settings.

What are the marketing strategies in place to expand the reach of the kit in China and in other countries?
Following the recent SFDA approval, the careHPV product will be commercially available in China, starting January 2013. The careHPV Test will also be sold in India in 2013, when the national registration has been granted. Once local registration is obtained, the product will also be sold in Latin America and Eastern Europe in the near future.

QIAGEN has been focusing on diagnostics related products. What according to you is the importance of this segment? What are the strategies in place to tap the market in the diagnostics segment?
QIAGEN's expansion from a provider of life science tools into new areas, such as molecular diagnostics and applied testing, actually started from as early as 2004. We saw both as significant growth opportunities. Before that, what we were missing were assets such as truly global presence, content breadth, including a block-buster franchise such as HPV screening, and integrated platforms, as well as access to physicians and companion diagnostics. Between 2003-11, our net sales increased from $351 million-to-$1,170 million, which is a good proof of why we entered to the new areas.

Besides acquisitions, QIAGEN's organic growth comes from newly introduced products as we are committed to expanding content. In addition, one of our focuses has been on automated platforms, namely to integrate solutions that allow customers to process complete workflows, from sample extraction to sample processing, assay setup and detection. For all throughput needs, we offer corresponding instrumentation platforms.