QIAGEN Announces EZ2 Connect Instrument Line for Automated Sample Processing in Research, Forensics and Diagnostics

• Pioneering next-level sample processing with connectivity, simplicity, and unmatched flexibility
  
  
• Building on the success of EZ1 technology, three versions offer application area tailored value
  
  
• Integration with QIAsphere digital infrastructure allows for optimized lab productivity

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the upcoming launch of the EZ2 Connect product line, a next-level automated sample-processing platform whose simplicity, flexibility and speed will benefit biomedical research, forensics and clinical diagnostics.

The EZ2 Connect instruments use pre-filled cartridges and magnetic bead technology to process up to 24 samples in parallel in as little as 20 minutes, ensuring process safety and efficiency of nucleic acid extraction. The new platform builds on QIAGEN’s groundbreaking EZ1 instrument line, which set new standards in the automation of sample preparation and sample-data management and has seen more than 4,500 devices installed worldwide at the end of 2020.

“Expanding on the strength of our sample-processing portfolio, we are paving the way to a new era of laboratory automation,” said Thomas Schweins, Senior Vice President, Business Area Life Sciences of QIAGEN. ”The EZ2 Connect platform makes standardized and efficient nucleic acid purification accessible for any lab - without the need for specialized training or previous experience with automation platforms, while providing a new level of connectivity for ease-of-use and reliability of results.”

The EZ2 Connect platform has a broad range of application areas, and will be tailored to three different key versions. The EZ2 Connect for use in research and pharmaceutical laboratory and the EZ2 Connect Fx for use in forensics and human identification (HID) will be launched in July. The release of the EZ2 Connect MDx for use in molecular diagnostic workflows is planned for early 2022, with regulatory approval in the U.S., the European Union and other markets worldwide.

Addressing a wide range of sample types and applications for biomedical research, the EZ2 Connect comes with an elaborate kit portfolio. In-tip separation, onboard heating and reagent pipetting, as well as large volume capabilities enable an unprecedented level of benchtop automation. With new approaches for cell free circulating DNA (cfDNA) and nucleic acid extraction from a range of sample types such as FFPE, EZ2 Connect catalyzes analytical quality, a valuable tool for example in cancer research.

The EZ2 Connect Fx is tailored to Human ID and forensics customer requirements, ensuring performance, process safety and reliability. It was designed and developed on the experiences and user feedback of the EZ1’s exceptional success in the HID market and offers a failure-safe method to isolate DNA even from smallest traces with highest efficiency. Increased capacity, full traceability, and maximum sample integrity allow labs to stand ready 24/7.

The EZ2 Connect MDx will address the challenges of medium throughput clinical diagnostics labs: dealing with fluctuating numbers of sample, large variety of sample types and quality, and less experienced staff. A single-use cartridge per sample and easy push-button operation minimizes the risk of sampling errors.

The EZ2 Connect platform complements QIAGEN’s leading offering of automation solutions including the QIAcube Connect and the QIAsymphony. The QIAcube Connect platform allows for a seamless transfer of QIAGENs wide range of manual spin column protocols to flexible and medium throughput automation, with the dedicated QIAcube Connect MDx version for molecular diagnostics workflows.

At the end of 2020, more than 9,800 QIAcube platform had been cumulatively placed with customers worldwide. The QIAsymphony provides fully automated high throughput with features such as continuous loading and primary tube handling, and had a cumulative installed base of over 2,900 systems at the end of 2020.

The newly introduced EZ2 Connect platform allows for medium- to high-throughput sample processing, combining flexibility with maximum process safety in dedicated instrument versions tailored to the individual needs of QIAGEN’s diverse customer base.

The new versions also allow for connection to QIAsphere, a digital laboratory ecosystem that enables additional remote features like instrument management and real-time status reporting. As a result, EZ2 Connect enables optimization of workflows and greater lab productivity with the next level of daily lab routine automation.

For more information about the EZ2 Connect platform, please visit https://www.qiagen.com/us/clp/ez2-connect-updates or see the product video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL5ao-mLXdQ&ab_channel=QIAGEN

More information on QIAGEN can be found at www.qiagen.com

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. Our sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective workflows. QIAGEN provides solutions to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare) and Life Sciences (academia, pharma R&D and industrial applications, primarily forensics). As of December 31, 2020, QIAGEN employed approximately 5,600 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this press 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, including those products used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, timing for launch and development, marketing and/or regulatory approvals, financial and operational outlook, growth and expansion, collaborations markets, strategy or operating results, including without limitation its expected adjusted net sales and adjusted diluted earnings results, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions 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, regulatory processes and dependence on logistics), variability of operating results and allocations between customer classes, the commercial development of markets for our products to customers in academia, pharma, applied testing and molecular diagnostics; 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 products; 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 and protect our products from competitors' products; market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses; actions of governments, global or regional economic developments, weather or transportation delays, natural disasters, political or public health crises, including the breadth and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the demand for our products and other aspects of our business, or other force majeure events; as well as the possibility that expected benefits related to recent or pending acquisitions may not materialize as expected; and the other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” contained in Item 3 of our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F. For further information, please refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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