QIAGEN Completes Acquisition of Verogen, Strengthening Leadership in Human ID / Forensics With NGS Technologies

QIAGEN (NYSE:QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Verogen, a leader in the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to drive the future of human identification (HID) and forensic investigation.

Verogen, a privately held company founded in 2017 and based in San Diego, supports the global human identification community with NGS tools and professional services to help resolve criminal and missing-persons cases. QIAGEN and Verogen have been commercialization partners since announcing a distribution agreement in June 2021.

QIAGEN – which in the late 1990s launched the first commercial kits to purify DNA from forensic casework samples – already has a leading position in the HID / forensics market. QIAGEN’s sample collection and preparation kits, genetic testing analysis, and workflow automation products are used around the world by forensic science laboratories and criminal investigators.

“Bringing together Verogen and QIAGEN creates a unique opportunity to better help investigators and researchers to advance forensic science and to find missing persons, accurately identify suspects and exonerate the innocent,” said Thierry Bernard, CEO of QIAGEN. “The power of NGS has created so many applications that were not possible before, and its use in forensics is another opportunity for QIAGEN to provide the most complete workflow and help improve the lives of people around the world.”

“We are proud to take our successful partnership with QIAGEN to the next level in a combination that we believe creates significant advantages for all stakeholders,” said Brett Williams, CEO of Verogen. “This step will expand the value of Verogen’s portfolio to forensics customers and investigative agencies, and further drive the adoption of NGS to foster advances in justice worldwide.”

Human identification DNA techniques have evolved greatly over the past few decades, helping to meet huge challenges like in the aftermaths of wars and natural disasters, as well as to support advances in criminal justice. As just one example, the International Commission on Missing Persons in the Netherlands to date has profiled more than 44,000 bone samples and made more than 18,000 identifications – all processed using QIAGEN chemistry and kits.