Covance opens state-of-the-art biorepository facility at Greenfield

Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD), a leading provider of drug development services, announced today that it has opened a state-of-the-art biorepository facility at its Greenfield, Indiana location. The 20,000-square-foot building is dedicated to long-term storage of clinical trial specimens.  The facility is able to store a wide-range of specimens, including plasma, serum, whole blood, DNA, PBMC, and tissue.

Covance, through its market-leading central laboratory, has stored and managed patient specimens for the past 20 years, and the opening of this new facility further enhances the company's ability to keep client specimens safe and secure. The biorepository has unsurpassed safety and security features, including the ability to withstand exposure to winds in excess of 300 miles per hour which is the equivalent of an F5 tornado, the highest level of tornado intensity.   The facility offers a wide range of frozen storage including -20 degrees C, -70 degrees C, -80 degrees C, and -150 degrees C vapor phase liquid nitrogen.

"We believe Covance has the latest technology and capacity to meet our clients' sample storage and testing needs for many years to come," said Deborah Tanner, corporate senior vice president, and president, Central Laboratory Services and Discovery & Translational Services.  "By adding this biorepository to our existing central laboratory facilities, we are able to quickly store samples from our central labs and biomarkers work as well as samples from other sources. Our experience in clinical trial specimen testing and storage enables us to manage the entire lifecycle from specimen draw to final destruction, which minimize the risk for our clients due to shipping and moving specimens."

The increasing number of global clinical trials, as well as regulatory requirements around retesting of specimens, has driven pharmaceutical and biotech companies to look for a comprehensive provider of long-term storage and future testing services.  Covance's new biorepository is adjacent to the company's Biomarker Center of Excellence and in close proximity to its largest central laboratory location, allowing clients to protect their specimens and leverage Covance's biomarker and clinical testing capabilities.  Covance clients receive complete consultation services with specimen and project management experts, as well as scientific and medical guidance on developing new assays for future testing.