Quick Facts
- MDS is a $1.1-billion, pure-play global life-sciences company that provides market-leading products and services used for the development of drugs and the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
- MDS is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:MDS) and the New York Stock exchange (NYSE:MDZ).
- MDS has over 5,000 highly skilled employees operating in 29 countries, and distributes products to 65 countries.
- MDS has a focused set of businesses with leading positions in life-sciences markets. MDS businesses include MDS Analytical Technologies, MDS Nordion and MDS Pharma Services.
- MDS Analytical Technologies is focused on the research, design, manufacture and marketing of state-of-the-art tools for mass-spectrometry, drug discovery and bioresearch to help accelerate the complex process of discovering and developing new drug compounds. In 2008, MDS Analytical Technologies, and its joint-venture partner, Applied Biosystems, Inc., announced the introduction of two of the most advanced mass-spectrometry systems ever built -- the AB SCIEX Triple Quad™ 5500 and the AB SCIEX QTRAP® 5500 Systems -- both of which will provide researchers with complete workflow solutions that are unmatched in terms of functionality, speed and performance. And earlier this year, MDS acquired Blueshift Biotechnologies, a developer of screening platforms for life sciences research and maker of the IsoCyte™ bench-top laser scanning cytometer, to expand the capabilities of MDS Analytical Technologies in the field of cellular analysis.
- MDS Nordion is a world leader in providing medical isotopes for molecular and diagnostic imaging, sterilization technologies for disease prevention, and radiotherapeutics for targeted therapy. It supplies more than half of the world's medical isotopes to precisely diagnose, monitor and treat disease. Sterilization products and systems from MDS Nordion are used to sterilize more than 40% of the world's single-use medical supplies, such as bandages, catheters and syringes, and to sterilize 80% of all surgical gloves in the world. MDS Nordion also partners with several worldwide leading academic centres on collaborative research and development,, including the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, where MDS Nordion established a Molecular Imaging Centre of Excellence to advance cardiology research.
- MDS Pharma Services, one of the world's leading contract research organizations, is committed to delivering Quality On Time™. It provides innovative drug-discovery and development services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These services include early-stage, drug-development services (discovery and pre-clinical research services; phase I clinical trials; and bioanalytical services) and late-stage, drug-development (phases II-IV clinical trials and Global Central Labs) services. MDS Pharma Services continues to invest in infrastructure and technology to better serve its clients: in 2008, it opened a new 300-bed, phase I facility in Phoenix and expanded its Global Central Labs in Beijing and Singapore; and it launched the industry-leading Apollo sample-management system for Global Central Labs and next-generation ClinQuick® study-management software for phase I clinical trials. The contract research organization was recently recognized for providing superior clinical-trial management services to clients, receiving two citations at the 2008 Good Clinical Practice Journal Awards in London.
- In 2007 MDS completed the largest divestiture (MDS Diagnostic Services) and the largest acquisition (Molecular Devices Corporation) in the Company's history, and returned value to shareholders through a $500-million share buyback.
- MDS customers include the most prestigious researchers in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, government, and academic institutions around the world.