NEXIGENT JOINS TOP PHARMACEUTICAL AND TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES TO DEVELOP STANDARDS FOR CLINICAL TRIALS DATA

Nexigent Named As Corporate Sponsor of Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium 

April 30, 2001 - Princeton, New Jersey - Nexigent Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Covance Inc.(NYSE: CVD), announces its participation in the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium(CDISC). CDISC is a non-profit organization with a mission to lead the development of industry standards to support the electronic acquisition, exchange, submission, and archiving of clinical trials data and metadata for medical and biopharmaceutical product development. A key goal of the consortium is to leverage these standards to improve data quality and decrease drug development time and cost. As a full Corporate Sponsor, Nexigent will be involved in CDISC working groups andprovide funding for CDISC activities.

Nexigent provides technology-enabled services to accelerate and improve the drug development process. Nexigent is currently working with Covance's Central Laboratory, the world's largest laboratory dedicated to clinical trials, to accelerate the availability of clinical lab data for pharmaceutical customers by leveraging Nexigent's systems and internet portal. Augmenting its role as a corporate sponsor, members of the Nexigent technical team will provide additional services to CDISC by lending their significant experience in clinical lab data management and technology expertise to help the CDISC Lab Team document their models and lab processes. 

Commenting on the CDISC relationship, Jeffrey Langan, CEO of Nexigent said, "As our industry moves towards using technology-enabled tools to improve the efficiency and quality of clinical trials data, we welcome the opportunity to work with our industry colleagues to further develop global standards to streamline the drug development process."

"CDISC is pleased to add Nexigent to our roster of corporate sponsors," said Rebecca Kush, Founder and President of CDISC. "We look forward to working with Nexigent on a variety of CDSIC activities."

Nexigent facilitates interactions among pharmaceutical companies, investigators, and contract research organizations for more effective and efficient clinical trial management. Nexigent offers flexible, integrated technology service solutions to help customers bring new therapies to market more quickly and at lower costs. 

Nexigent was formed by Covance Inc. in October of 2000 as a new business with an industry-wide vision to e-enable clinical trial development. Building on the strengths of Covance's position as a leader in the drug development industry, Nexigent's expertise and in-depth knowledge of drug development can provide customers with tools to compete effectively in the marketplace. Nexigent has a global presence with more than 100 employees in three locations - Maidenhead, United Kingdom, Princeton, New Jersey and Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 

Covance, with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive drug development services companies with 2000 revenues of $868 million, operations currently in 17 countries, and approximately 7,500 employees worldwide. Information on Covance's products and services, recent press releases, and SEC filings can be obtained through our website at: www.covance.com.

# # #