Covance Inc. is a contract research organization (CRO) headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, providing drug development and animal testing services. According to its website, it is one of the largest companies in the world, with annual revenues of more than $ 2 billion, and more than 15,000 employees in over 60 countries. It claims to provide the largest laboratory network of centers in the world. It became a public company after being separated by Corning Incorporated in 1996. In 2011 it was listed as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs by Diversity Employers Magazine.
With the name Covance Research Products Inc., based in Denver, Pennsylvania, the company also handles the import, breeding and sale of laboratory animals. It breeds dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, non-human primates, and pigs, and runs the largest non-human primate lab in Germany.
On November 3, 2014, Labcorp announced it would buy Covance for $ 6.1 billion.
Video Covance
Histori
The origin of Covance goes back to 1968, when the Environmental Sciences Corporation - which produces laboratory animal - related equipment - opened for business in the basement of a used grocery store in Seattle, Washington. In 1972, the company purchased and used the name Hazleton Laboratories, a contract laboratory that performed toxicology testing. In 1977 Corning Glass Works bought a stake in Hazleton. According to the material on the Funding Universe website, in 1982, Hazleton has become the largest independent biological and life sciences testing company in the United States, as well as the world's largest equipment manufacturer. The company carries out toxicological tests on medicinal, cosmetic, pesticidal, and industrial chemicals, and rhesus-reared monkeys and beagles for its own labs, as well as for chemical and pharmaceutical companies, homes sick, universities and government agencies. The Funding Universe writes that it also offers chemical analysis of new compound products for various industries, testing chemicals for gene mutations, and conducting research with monoclonal antibodies.
In 1989 Corning Glass Works bought G.H. Besselaar Associates, who conducted clinical trials to help the drug get approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and Hazleton bought Microtest Ltd., a center of molecular toxicology in York, England. Corning Glass Works later changed its name to Corning, and created Corning Lab Services, which included Besselaar and Hazelton. In 1991 and 1992 Corning Lab Services acquired SciCor and the Philadelphia Association of Clinical Trials; in 1993, Hazleton, Besselaar, and SciCor combined, becoming Corning Pharmaceutical Services, then Corning Life Sciences. On January 9, 1995, Corning Pharmaceutical Services announced the acquisition of National Packaging Systems, Inc., a Allentown, PA based clinical testing company; the company was renamed Corning National Packaging Inc. In April 1996 Corning released a lab test and pharmaceutical service, creating two new companies, Quest Diagnostics and Covance, the latter with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. Corning National Packaging Inc, with facilities in Allentown, PA, Horsham, England, and Basel, Switzerland was renamed to Covance Pharmaceutical Packaging Services Inc.
In 1998, Covance had net income of $ 731.6 million and net income of $ 48.6 million. In 2012, annual revenues reach more than $ 2 billion, and more than 11,000 employees in more than 60 countries.
On February 14, 2001, Covance completed the sale of Covance Pharmaecutical Packaging Services Inc., later renamed Fisher Clinical Services, to Fisher Scientific International for $ 137.5 million. Net proceeds from sales, approximately $ 110 million, were used to pay off other Covance debts.
Maps Covance
Focus and expansion
The main focus of the company is to serve the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. As part of its clinical and non-clinical development services, it provides testing services for the environmental, food and nutrition supplement industries, and provides products and antibody services specific to the research community for neurological disorders. It also offers cell type marker antibodies to neuroscience; suite of products for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease; and online antibody stores, including specific and secondary antibodies.
The company provides commercialization services for pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology, and medical devices. Reimbursement and healthcare consulting services are offered through the "Market Access" division, and post-approval services are provided through the company's service delivery group. Covance Nutrition Division provides food analysis and food supplement services. In 2009, Covance and Kellogg announced that Covance will provide analytical, microbiological, and stability chemistry for Kellogg products, a $ 42 million deal.
Covance continues its expansion with the acquisition of drug development companies. In August 2005, he acquired GFI Clinical Services, an 80-bed clinical pharmacology business, from West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. In May 2006, he acquired Signet Laboratories, Inc., a provider of monoclonal antibodies used in cancer research, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. In August 2008, he purchased an initial drug development facility in Greenfield, Indiana, from Eli Lilly for $ 50 million; in a $ 1.6 billion contract, Covance agreed to provide Eli Lilly with a 10-year drug development service. It is also planned to provide services to other pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients on the Greenfield website.
Covance's Nutritional Chemistry and Food Safety (NCFS) testing capability is extended with 10,000 new NCFS laboratories opened in Harrogate, England. The laboratory complements the services sent from Madison, WI; Battle Creek, MI; Greenfield, IN; and Singapore.
Covance Research Products
A division of the company, Covance Research Products, Inc. (CRP), based in Denver, Pennsylvania, offers antibody products and antibody development services to the research community. CRP also handles the import and sale of laboratory animals. According to its website, CRP breeds and sells dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, non-human primates, and pigs. It has also breed and trademark new breeds of animals, including the dog "Mini-Mongrel". The company also imports wild-caught primates. Covance's animal testing program and facilities are AAALAC-accredited, ISO 9001: 2000-registered, OLAW-sure, and USDA-registered research. According to the company, CRP programs and facilities are supervised by AALAS certified veterinary staff and technicians.
Animal health and wellbeing
Ebola's Ebola Virus
In December 1989 a number of cynomolgus macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) were imported from the island of Mindanao in the Philippines with the Ebola virus into the Primate Research Covancy Primate Research Unit in Reston, Virginia. The company uses monkeys there to test cosmetics and medicines, according to The Washington Post . The virus was confirmed in one monkey and suspected to another among the group of 100. In March 1996 two monkeys that had been sent to Hazleton in Alice, Texas, were tested positive for the Ebola virus from a group of 100 obtained from the same supplier. Strain is not contagious to humans, and no human disease is reported.
The alleged abuse of primates
The company was the subject of controversy following accusations in 2003-2005 by the British Union for the Abolition of People and the Ethical Treatment of Animals that non-human primates were abused in laboratories in Germany and the United States. No violations of the law were found by the authorities in the first case, and small fines were levied on the latter. In response, the company compiled a new welfare code to guide the treatment of laboratory animals.
MÃÆ'¼nster, Germany
In 2003, the British Union for Biological Removal (BUAV) sent German investigative journalist Friedrich MÃÆ'¼lln to the Covance facility at MÃÆ'¼nster, Germany's largest primate testing center, where he disguised for five months.
The footage was shown on German television in December 2003. Nature reported that it shows animal guards dancing with half-drugged monkeys, making their heads move to the rhythm of the music. It also showed the staff handling the monkeys roughly and yelling at them. The monkeys were seen living in isolation in small wire cages with little or no natural light and no enriching environments, with high noise levels caused by staff shouting and playing radio, and undergoing surgery without post-operative care. In response, Covance stated that clips showing different technicians working in different buildings were edited together, resulting in a series of events that did not occur. The company also said there was a housing group and housing couple for some monkeys, but BUAV chose not to show it. Covance said it plans to improve housing to adhere to future EU guidelines.
Jane Goodall, a primate expert, described the monkey life condition as horrible. Another primate expert, Stephen Brend, argues that using monkeys in such stressful circumstances is "bad science," and that trying to extrapolate useful data under such circumstances is "an untenable proposition." The environment minister for North Rhine-Westphalia called on the prosecutor to investigate, saying that if the allegations were borne, the company would lose its license to keep primates. According to the European Biomedical Research Association, lobby group, the authorities examined Covance and insisted that the company install video cameras to monitor staff working with primates. Covance appealed through the courts, who decided that video monitoring would violate the rights of staff. The public prosecutor's office looked at the film and questioned the witnesses, and concluded that Covancy "did not make themselves prosecuted" and that the state veterinary official "did not fail in his supervisory duties."
Vienna, Virginia, United States
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) discovered similar conditions at Covance's laboratory in Vienna, Virginia when sending a covert investigator to get a job there as a technician from April 2004 to March 2005. In June 2005, Covance filed a lawsuit in court. The United States against PETA and investigators for fraud, breach of employee contracts, and "conspiracy to undermine the business of the company by deceptively cheating and recording facilities...". The company filed a parallel lawsuit in the UK in an attempt to stop PETA showing the tape; the British judge called the tape "very disturbing," and decided that there was a legitimate public interest in the material shown. Covance and PETA agree to a settlement resulting in no payment to Covance, and with PETA allowed to continue to publish the video. PETA received a five-year ban on attempts to infiltrate the Covance facility.
Covance announced in March 2006 that inspection by Food & amp; The Drug Administration has "produced no findings to substantiate claims made against the facility." Inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) generated 16 citations in April 2006. USDA refused to provide details; according to Covance, the violations range from "administrative matters to the scope of the veterinary authority." The Company agreed to pay the $ 8,720 settlement.
New code
In response to the controversy, Covance issued a statement seeking to observe a number of principles, including treating animals in their care with respect, complying with all applicable laws and regulations, using alternatives where necessary, minimizing discomfort and stress in animals, training employees, and encouraging them to report errors any.
See also
- International primate trade
- Laboratory animal resources
- List of Ebola outbreaks
- Nafovanny
- Non-human primate experiments
References
Further reading
- Official site
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Known Case and Ebola Dengue Outbreak, in Chronological Order", October 12, 2011.
- Covance. "2011 Annual Report".
- Covance Laboratories Inc. v. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, et al., Chancery No. 2005-2590 (Va. Cir. Ct., Fairfax City, June 3, 2005.
- Covance Laboratories Ltd, et al. v. Covance Campaign, et al., Claim Nom 5C-00295, High Court, Chancery Division, June 16, 2005.
- Mirowski, Philip and Van Horn, Robert. "Organization of Contract Research and Commercialization of Scientific Research", Social Science Science , Vol. 35, No. 4 (August 2005), pp. 503-548.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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