Abaxis, Inc. Announces USDA Approval of VetScan Canine Ehrlichia Antibody Test Kit

UNION CITY, Calif., July 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Abaxis, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ABAX), a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems for both the medical and veterinary markets, today announced that the Center for Veterinary Biologicals of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved its VetScan Canine Ehrlichia Antibody Test Kit for use in rapid detection of canine Ehrlichia.

Clint Severson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Abaxis, said, “The USDA approval of the VetScan Canine Ehrlichia Antibody Test Kit now allows our customers to use our lateral flow rapid tests to detect canine heartworm, Lyme and Ehrlichia. Each test can be purchased on an individual basis so that each practitioner has the flexibility to decide which tests to use based on such factors as the history and presentation of the patient as well as the incidence of a particular disease in his or her geographic area. This is the only test approved for detection of antibodies to all three dominant species impacting dogs in the US: E. canis., E. chafeensis and E. ewingii. As a result this improves the efficiency and the economics of carrying out such testing on these vector-borne diseases.”

Dr. Craig Tockman, vice president of sales and marketing for North American Animal Health of Abaxis, added, “This approval represents an important development in Abaxis’ ongoing program to provide veterinary professionals a wider range of diagnostic options suited to the geographic locations in which they practice. Because of the regional distribution of all the tickborne diseases, the VetScan Canine Ehrlichia Antibody Test Kit, which employs a patent-protected method of detecting antibodies reactive to outer membrane proteins of the Ehrlichia bacteria, will be an important new product in providing regionally appropriate diagnostic capabilities that can produce improved patient outcomes in a timely and cost-efficient manner.”

About Abaxis

Abaxis develops, manufactures, markets and sells portable blood analysis systems for use in any veterinary or human patient-care setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent measurements. The system consists of a compact, 5.1 kilogram (11.2 pounds), portable analyzer and a series of single-use plastic discs, called reagent discs, that contain all the chemicals required to perform a panel of up to 13 tests on veterinary patients and 14 tests on human patients. The system can be operated with minimal training and performs multiple routine tests on whole blood, serum or plasma samples. The system provides test results in less than 12 minutes with the precision and accuracy equivalent to a clinical laboratory analyzer. The veterinary business also provides to the animal health and research market a line of hematology instruments for point-of-care complete blood counts (CBC), a specialty instrument to screen for and detect clotting disorders and to measure equine fibrinogen levels, a handheld instrument for the rapid assessment of certain critical care tests and rapid point-of-care tests for Heartworm infections, Parvovirus, Giardia and Lyme disease.

Abaxis, through its AVRL division, provides routine laboratory testing as well as specialty testing for veterinarians nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.abaxis.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes, and our conference call will include, statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”), including but not limited to statements related to Abaxis’ cash position, financial resources and potential for future growth, market acceptance and penetration of new or planned product offerings, and future recurring revenues and results of operations. Abaxis claims the protection of the safe-harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are often characterized by the terms “may,” “believes,” “projects,” “expects,” “anticipates,” or words of similar import, and do not reflect historical facts. Specific forward-looking statements contained in this press release or in Abaxis’ conference call may be affected by risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to risks related to the transition of its U.S. medical sales to Abbott, potential excess inventory levels and inventory imbalances at the company’s distributors, losses or system failures with respect to Abaxis’ facilities or manufacturing operations, fluctuations in quarterly operating results, dependence on sole suppliers, the market acceptance of Abaxis’ products and services, the continuing development of its products, required United States Food and Drug Administration clearance and other government approvals, risks associated with manufacturing and distributing its products on a commercial scale free of defects, risks related to the introduction of new instruments manufactured by third parties, risks associated with competing in the human diagnostic market, risks related to the protection of Abaxis’ intellectual property or claims of infringement of intellectual property asserted by third parties and risks related to condition of the United States economy. Readers should also refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Abaxis’ annual report on Form 10-K, recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Abaxis’ other periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements were made. Abaxis does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.