my (second) last ever post on the plt thread, page-3

TTH as Red only has 1 bullet left in his PLT posting days I'll reply for him.

It's a US$5 test. See below taken directly from the Qiagen website. US$30m value of the donation is based upon the "US list price". This is done to puff up the value of Qiagen's "donation".

This "donation" is nothing more than Qiagen marketing spend to help establish and entrench them in these developing markets. Not great for PLT. Not a downramp just a fact!

cheers

Landmark Study in New England Journal of Medicine Shows HPV Testing Significantly Reduces Deaths from Cervical Cancer, Compared to other Methods Including Pap

QIAGEN donates one million tests to expand access to HPV screening in the world's poorest countries

Venlo, The Netherlands - April 1, 2009 - Results from an eight-year trial involving more than 130,000 women published today in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) demonstrate that in low-resource settings a single round of HPV testing significantly reduces the numbers of advanced cervical cancers and deaths, compared with Pap (cytology) testing or visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA).

The trial used QIAGEN's (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) digene HPV Test, which detects high-risk types of human papillomavirus that cause cervical cancer.

"The implications of the findings of this trial are immediate and global: international experts in cervical-cancer prevention should now adapt HPV testing for widespread implementation," wrote Drs. Mark Schiffman and Sholom Wacholder of the U.S. National Cancer Institute in an editorial that accompanied the study in the NEJM. "The remarkable promise of the Indian trial presents a worthy global challenge to implement smart, regionally tailored strategies that will efficiently save millions of lives in the years ahead."

Following this milestone study, over the next five years QIAGEN will donate one million HPV tests, with a total estimated value of over US$30 million (based on U.S. list prices), as part of its broader global access program to provide the highest quality cervical cancer screening technologies to women in developing countries. Nearly 300,000 women die of cervical cancer every year, with 80% of deaths occurring in developing countries.

QIAGEN's commitment to expanded access to HPV screening includes:

HPV test donation programs, in partnership with leading public health institutions and health non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Development of next-generation HPV technologies, including the careHPV test - designed specifically for low-resource, developing countries Tiered-pricing initiatives for low-resource countries

"This landmark study further validates the value of QIAGEN's HPV test as the gold standard for cervical cancer screening and demonstrates that the incidence of advanced cervical cancer and deaths are actually reduced - and hence lives saved - when HPV screening is implemented," said Peer Schatz, Chief Executive Officer of QIAGEN. "QIAGEN's HPV testing technology is already being used to routinely screen millions of women in the United States and Europe. We're committed to working together with the public health community to ensure that women everywhere have access to the best cervical cancer prevention tools." Moving forward QIAGEN will collaborate with a team of global health partners - including the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Jhpiego, an international non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University - on the administration of the donation program.