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Digene

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Digene
Founded1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.
FounderFloyd Taub
Defunct2007 (2007) (brought by Qiagen)
ProductsDiagnostics

Digene Corporation was a molecular diagnostics company with company headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S. Floyd Taub, M.D, founded the company in 1984 and it was incorporated in 1985.[1] He established identifying specific types of human papillomavirus as the companies chief project in 1986. He guided the company through development of unique methods to do this and Digene's acquisition of the Molecular Diagnostics division of Life Technologies.

In 1988, this group had created the first diagnostic test for human papillomavirus, and gained FDA approval for this test requiring radioactive reagents.The test was named ViraPap. Life Technologies, had been formed by the merger of GIBCO and Bethesda Research Laboratories in 1983. Clinical uptake of ViraPap was slow, and Life sold the test and associated intellectual property to Digene in 1990, soon after Digene was acquired by the Whitehead group. Digene's history in non-radioactive detection methods allowed it to modify the test to not require radioactive materials. This modified hybrid capture HPV test became Digene's most important product line.[2]

In 2007, Qiagen bought the company for US$1.6 billion.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Division of Corporations - Online Services". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
  2. ^ Hogarth, Stuart; Hopkins, Michael; Rotolo, Daniele (2015). "Chapter 5: Technological Accretion in Diagnostics: HPV Testing and Cytology in Cervical Cancer Screening". Medical Innovation: Science, technology and practice. Routledge. ISBN 9781138860346.
  3. ^ "Netherlands' Qiagen buying Digene for $1.6 billion". Reuters. 2007-06-03. Retrieved 2020-05-01.