Covance and M2Gen® Enter into Alliance to Promote Faster Patient Recruitment in Biomarker-Driven Oncology Trials

February 26, 2013

Princeton, N.J. - Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD), a leading provider of drug development services, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive alliance and services agreement with M2Gen, a subsidiary of the Moffitt Cancer Center and leader in advancing personalized medicine by using high-quality tissue, clinical data and molecular technology to advance research for personalized cancer treatments. Under the agreement, Covance and M2Gen will work together to offer biopharmaceutical clients the ability to match potential patients for biomarker-driven oncology trials with the right treatment or clinical trial. In addition, Covance will become the preferred provider for M2Gen for DNA/RNA sequencing, gene expression analysis, and genotyping analysis services, which will be conducted at Covance’s genomics laboratory in Seattle, Washington.

M2Gen’s cancer-focused data warehouse, one of the largest of its kind in the world, and related specimen biorepository, links longitudinal clinical, molecular and specimen data from more than 95,000 consented patients from Moffitt Cancer Center and a consortium of 17 hospitals throughout the United States. M2Gen uses a proprietary healthcare informatics platform to support a clinical trial matching program, which can significantly reduce the timeline for identifying suitable participants for enrollment in clinical trials and improve the design of biomarker driven trials.

"Working together, Covance and M2Gen expect to help biopharmaceutical companies accelerate their drug development programs, make better decisions, and improve their efforts to develop targeted therapies for cancer patients," said Ken Somberg, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Covance and Vice President, Clinical Development Services. "M2Gen’s database is unique in the industry, with clinical data captured and maintained over the cancer patient’s lifetime. This alliance will help us partner with sponsors as the field of personalized medicine continues to evolve, and as we work toward a common goal of bringing new life-saving medicines to patients who need them.”

”M2Gen considers Covance to be an ideal strategic partner with the goal of connecting patients to the best treatment options, including clinical trials, by accelerating the discovery and delivery of personalized medicine,” said Bill Dalton, PhD, MD, President and CEO of M2Gen.

Covance is a leader in clinical oncology and has conducted more than 130 trials across several tumor types in the past five years on behalf of biopharmaceutical sponsors. The alliance with M2Gen will extend Covance’s personalized medicine strategy and reinforce its drug development capabilities in this key therapeutic area.

M2Gen and Moffitt Cancer Center will continue efforts to add new hospitals to their network, further expanding access to clinical data for thousands of consenting cancer patients across the United States.

About Covance

Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with annual revenues greater than $2.2 billion, global operations in more than 30 countries, and more than 11,750 employees worldwide. Information on Covance’s products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through its website at http://www.covance.com.

About M2Gen
M2Gen is Moffitt Cancer Center’s wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary advancing personalized medicine by using high quality tissue, clinical data and molecular technology to advance research for personalized cancer treatments. The goal of M2Gen is to accelerate science which will provide a foundation for personalized medicine at the point of patient care through identifying a patient’s susceptibility to disease, predicting how the patient will respond to a particular drug, and matching patients to the best therapies for an optimal treatment outcome. M2Gen, along with Moffitt and 17 hospitals in a consortium network, has created the world’s largest cancer-focused biorepository linked to clinical and molecular data.

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.

Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, such as statements about future working relationships and the impact of these relationships, are forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such forward-looking statements, including the statements contained herein regarding anticipated trends in Covance’s business, are based largely on management’s expectations and are subject to and qualified by risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, competitive factors, outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical industry, Covance’s ability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel, the ability to add new hospitals to the M2Gen and Moffitt network, and other factors described in Covance’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Covance undertakes no duty to update any forward looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in Covance’s expectations.

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