Mexican Department of Public Health to Launch S...

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     QIAGEN's digene HPV Test Selected for World's First National
                        HPV Screening Program

Mexico City, Mexico - Nov. 19, 2008 - In a campaign to  significantly
reduce the most  common cancer affecting  Mexican women, the  Mexican
Public Health Agency (Secretaria de Salud or SSA) has announced it is
launching the first phase  of a program that  will offer testing  for
human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer,  to
low-income women age 35-65. The cost  of the testing will be  covered
by the agency. In the first phase of the screening program, which  is
beginning this month,  more than 200,000  women in the  lowest-income
125 counties are being offered the papillomavirus test along with the
traditional Pap smear. In 2009, the pilot program will be expanded to
include another 600,000 women in the 20 states with the highest death
rate from cervical cancer.

Since taking  office, President  Felipe  Calderon has  made  reducing
health inequalities in Mexico a top priority for his  administration.
Cervical cancer is  a major  focus of  this campaign,  since so  many
Mexican women are  affected -  more than 12,000  a year.  One of  the
national initiatives to date has been coordination among the  social,
private and public sectors to increase the efficiency and efficacy of
cervical cancer  prevention by  modifying the  Official Mexican  Norm
(NOM-014-SSA2-1994) for  the disease.  The  changes are  designed  to
better facilitate the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cervical
cancer among the most vulnerable  women through public education  and
use of  the most  advanced, effective  technologies for  screening  -
including the HPV test.

Infection with the papillomavirus is very common. In fact, the  World
Health Organization estimates that 11 percent of Mexican women  carry
cervical HPV at any given time.

"As in many countries, cervical  cancer is the most prevalent  cancer
in Mexican women  between the ages  of 15-44. Every  year, more  than
12,000 Mexican women  are diagnosed with  cervical cancer and  nearly
half of them die. Yet this is an entirely preventable disease,"  said
Peer Schatz, CEO of QIAGEN (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime  Standard:
QIA), the company that developed the digene®  HPV Test, which will be
used in the SSA's program and is  the only such test approved by  the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It also is available in many other
countries  of  the  world.  "The  Mexican  government  is  taking   a
leadership role  in  Latin America,  and  the world,  and  QIAGEN  is
committed to  joining  with  the  SSA to  assure  that  our  advanced
screening technology  is accessible  to women  everywhere, no  matter
what their income level or social class."

In the majority of women, the virus goes away or is suppressed by the
body before it causes any problems. However, in others, the infection
lingers and can cause abnormal  cells to form. While the  traditional
Pap smear is usually able to find abnormal cells, it sometimes misses
them.  A  study  published in  the  Journal of  the  National  Cancer
Institute found  that about  one-third of  invasive cervical  cancers
developed in women whose smears had appeared normal. In contrast, HPV
testing detects the  presence of  the virus itself.  In the  national
norms for cervical  cancer prevention,  which were  updated in  2007,
physicians are  advised that  they can  supplement the  Pap with  HPV
testing in women 25-65 for  additional protection. If abnormal  cells
are diagnosed early,  they can  be removed before  they develop  into
cervical cancer.

It is estimated that 6 million women a year will be eligible for  HPV
testing through the Mexican public  health system once the  screening
program is national.  An additional  1 million women  can access  the
test using private insurance.

About    HPV    and     cervical    cancer    (theHPVtest.com     and
theHPVtest.com/espanol)

Worldwide, cervical cancer affects nearly 500,000 women annually and,
after breast cancer,  is the second-most-common  malignancy found  in
women. Cervical cancer is  caused by "high-risk"  types of the  human
papillomavirus (HPV). It's  estimated that 80  percent of women  will
get an HPV infection at some  point in their lives. However, in  most
cases, the infection goes away or  is suppressed by the body  without
causing problems. It is only  infections that persist that can  cause
abnormal cells to form that may  develop into cervical cancer if  not
detected and treated  early. In  Mexico, current  estimates from  the
World Health Organization  indicate that 12,516  women are  diagnosed
with cervical cancer every year, and 5,777 die from the disease.

About QIAGEN (qiagen.com)
QIAGEN   N.V.,    a    Netherlands   holding    company,    is    the
leading global provider of  sample  and  assay  technologies.  Sample
technologies are used to  isolate and process  DNA, RNA and  proteins
from biological samples such  as blood or tissue. Assay  technologies
are used  to  make such  isolated  biomolecules visible.  QIAGEN  has
developed and markets more than 500 sample and assay products as well
as automated solutions for such consumables. The company provides its
products to molecular diagnostics laboratories, academic researchers,
pharmaceutical   and    biotechnology    companies,    and    applied
testing customers for  purposes such  as forensics,  animal  or  food
testing   and   pharmaceutical   process   control. QIAGEN's    assay
technologies  include  one  of  the  broadest  panels  of   molecular
diagnostic tests available  worldwide. This panel  includes the  only
FDA-approved test for human  papillomavirus (HPV), the primary  cause
of cervical cancer. QIAGEN employs more than 2,900 people in over  30
locations worldwide.

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   are
forward-looking, such statements  are based  on current  expectations
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   and  risks  of  dependency   on
logistics),  variability   of  operating   results,  the   commercial
development of the applied testing markets, clinical research markets
and proteomics markets, women's  health/HPV testing markets,  nucleic
acid-based molecular diagnostics market, and genetic vaccination  and
gene  therapy   markets,  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  infectious  disease
panels, 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  its
products from competitors'  products, market  acceptance of  QIAGEN's
new  products  and  the  integration  of  acquired  technologies  and
businesses. For  further information,  refer  to the  discussions  in
reports that  QIAGEN  has  filed  with, or  furnished  to,  the  U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).



Investor Relations                   Media Relations
Dr. Solveigh Mähler                  Dr. Thomas Theuringer
Director Investor Relations          Associate Director Public
QIAGEN N.V.                          Relations
[phone]                    QIAGEN GmbH
e-mail:                              [phone]
[e-mail]          email:
                                     [e-mail]
Albert F. Fleury
Director Corporate Finance and       Myriam Maldonado Tapia - Gricorp
Investor Relations North America     Ketchum
QIAGEN Gaithersburg, Inc.            52.45.88.55. ext. 202 (Mexico)
[phone]                      [e-mail]
e-mail: [e-mail]


 
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