Covance Announces Plans to Build New Drug Development Facility in Prince William County, Virginia

Princeton, New Jersey, Jan 08, 2008 – Covance Inc. (NYSE: CVD) announced today the purchase of a partially constructed manufacturing facility located on a 47-acre property in Prince William County’s Technology Park from Eli Lilly. The company intends to transform the current facility into a 410,000-square-foot state-of-the-art early drug development laboratory offering safety testing and chemistry analysis services.

“The increased demand from our biopharmaceutical clients for our preclinical safety service offerings has led Covance to seek opportunities to enhance and expand our operations in Northern Virginia and build upon our multi-year global expansion plans,” said Wendel Barr, Covance Senior Vice President and President of Early Development North America. “For 60 years, Covance operations in Northern Virginia have made significant contributions to the development of new medicines for HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, heart disease, leukemia, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, deadly infections, and many other debilitating diseases. With our long history in the area, we are looking forward to continuing our relationships as a member of the community as well as contributing to the diversification of the local economy.”

Covance plans to relocate approximately 450 current employees from its existing operations in Vienna,Va. and Chantilly, Va. to this facility by 2011, and hire an additional 100 employees by the year 2014. The total planned investment for this project is approximately $175 million. Covance expects to receive approximately $3.7 million in combined financial incentives from the Commonwealth of Virginia and Prince William County.

Statements contained in this press release, which are not historical facts, such as statements about prospective earnings, savings, revenue, operations, revenue and earnings growth and other financial results 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 the Company’s business are based largely on management’s expectations and are subject to and qualified by risks and uncertainties that could cause actual 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, levels of industry research and development spending, the Company’s ability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel, the fixed price nature of contracts or the loss of large contracts, risks associated with acquisitions and investments, the Company’s ability to increase order volume, the pace of translation of orders into revenue in late-stage development services, and other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Covance, Inc
210 Carnegie Center
Princeton, NJ 08540
Ron Lee netpr@covance.com
http://www.covance.com

About Covance Inc.

Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with revenues over the last twelve months of approximately $1.5 billion, global operations in more than 20 countries, and approximately 8,700 employees worldwide. Information on Covance's products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through its website at www.covance.com

This release was published on openPR.