UPDATE 1-Qiagen Q1 adj net profit up 9 pct on genetic tests

* Qiagen says Q1 adj net income up 9 pct at $40.3 mln

* Q1 sales up 7 pct at $220.9 mln

* Confirms full-year outlook

* CEO says prepared for level 6 swine-flu alert (Recasts, adds details, background, CEO quote)

FRANKFURT, May 4 (Reuters) - Genetic-testing company Qiagen (QGEN.DE) (QGEN.O) posted a 9 percent gain in first-quarter adjusted net earnings, slightly better than expected, helped by takeovers and higher demand for testing kits for the cervical-cancer virus.

Quarterly net profit excluding one-off charges related to acquisitions, rose to $40.3 million, better than the $39 million average estimate in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

"We are coming from a situation as a supplier of individual tests and are now offering a full range. We have reached a certain critical mass" to underpin sales growth, Chief Executive Officer Peer Schatz told Reuters.

Earnings were also shored up by demand for tests that help discern those bowel-cancer patients who are most likely to respond to Merck KGaA's (MRCG.DE) anti-tumor drug Erbitux.

Qiagen, whose tests are used in disease diagnostics, criminal investigations and paternity cases, last year bought businesses including Biotage's (BIOT.ST) DNA-sequencing operations and Corbett Life Science, whose equipment measures the speed of genetic-code replication.

The German company reiterated it expected adjusted full-year earnings in a range of 92 cents to 98 cents per share in 2009, up from 80 cents per share in 2008.

It continued to see sales growth of 11-16 percent in 2009, when adjusted for currency fluctuations, after first-quarter sales rose 7 percent to $220.9 million.

The CEO also said Qiagen was prepared to meet global demand for genetic tests to detect swine flu should the World Health Organisation raise its alert on the infection by one notch to the highest level.

Sales of Qiagen's diagnostics equipment such as Influenza A test kits -- approved to identify patients that need antiviral treatments against swine flu -- could increase by a double-digit million euro amount this year in the worst case of a pandemic, Schatz said.

Qiagen is the world's largest maker of genetic Influenza A tests, and supplied tests during outbreaks of bird flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), he said.

Last week, the WHO raised its alert level twice, from 3 to 5 on a six-point scale, and on Monday warned against complacency after Mexico said it was winning the battle against the deadly new strain of flu.

A hike to level 6 would declare a pandemic, a disease spreading rapidly in more than one area.