Cepheid (Jobs) Says Contract with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Terminated

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cepheid today announced the termination of its contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for development of a rapid point-of-care diagnostic to detect influenza viruses A and B, and the H5N1 "Avian Influenza" virus in human respiratory specimens.

"Based upon our growing success in the clinical market, our financial guidance for 2007 remains unchanged," said John Bishop, Cepheid's Chief Executive Officer. "Total revenues are expected to be in the range of $117 million to $123 million and our net loss, not including the effect of stock compensation expense and the amortization of acquired intangibles for 2007, is expected to remain in the range of $8 million to $11 million or $0.14 to $0.20 per share based on expected weighted average shares outstanding of 55.6 million. The Company is experiencing strong sales growth in the current quarter and continues to expect its operating results to continue to show a trend towards profitability in the second half of 2007 and currently expects to be profitable for the entire year of 2008, excluding stock compensation expense and the amortization of acquired intangibles."

About Cepheid

Cepheid , based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is an on-demand molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets fully-integrated systems for genetic analysis in the clinical, industrial and biothreat markets. The Company's systems enable rapid, sophisticated genetic testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases by automating otherwise complex manual laboratory procedures. Cepheid's easy-to-use systems integrate a number of complicated and time-intensive steps, including sample preparation, DNA amplification and detection, which enable the analysis of complex biological samples in its proprietary test cartridges. Through its strong molecular biology capabilities, the Company is focusing on those applications where rapid molecular testing is particularly important, such as identifying infectious disease and cancer in the clinical market; food, agricultural, and environmental testing in the industrial market; and identifying bio-terrorism agents in the biothreat market. See http://www.cepheid.com for more information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are not purely historical regarding Cepheid's or its management's intentions, beliefs, expectations and strategies for the future, including those relating to financial performance in 2007 and 2008, potential growth in clinical products sales, the status of government funding, future revenues and demand for certain test products, future net losses and profitability, and other future operating results. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the Company's current expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as those relating to: our success in increasing direct sales, and the effectiveness of new sales personnel; the performance and market acceptance of products; sufficient customer demand; our ability to complete clinical trials successfully in a timely manner for products to be marketed in clinical markets; uncertainties related to the FDA regulatory and European regulatory processes; the scope of actual USPS funding in the future; the rate of environmental testing using the BDS conducted by the USPS, which will affect the amount of consumable products sold; the fact that future levels of government funding are inherently uncertain; unforeseen development and manufacturing problems; the need for additional licenses for new tests and other products and the terms of such licenses; lengthy sales cycles in certain markets; the Company's reliance on distributors in some regions to market, sell and support our products; the occurrence of unforeseen expenditures, acquisitions or other transactions; unforeseen issues relating to acquisitions; the impact of competitive products and pricing; our ability to manage geographically-dispersed operations; and underlying market conditions worldwide. Readers should also refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Cepheid's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2006 and its other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date of this press release, based on information currently available to Cepheid, and Cepheid assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reasons why results might differ.

CONTACT: John L. Bishop, CEO, john.bishop@cepheid.com, or John R. Sluis,CFO, john.sluis@cepheid.com, both of Cepheid, +1-408-541-4191; media, ChrisStamm of Schwartz Communications, +1-781-684-0770, cepheid@schwartz-pr.com,for Cepheid; or inevstors, Jason Spark of Porter Novelli, +1-619-849-6005,jspark@pnlifesciences.com, for Cepheid

Web site: http://www.cepheid.com/