UNION CITY, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abaxis, Inc. , a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, announced today that it has entered into a formal distribution agreement with PSS World Medical, Inc. to sell and market the complete line of Abaxis human reagent rotors, as well as the Piccolo blood analysis system.
Clint Severson, chairman and chief executive officer of Abaxis, commented, “We are pleased to partner with PSS World Medical to significantly expand the penetration of our Piccolo system into the medical market. Each medical instrument that is placed in the field will typically drive consumable rotor sales by a factor of more than three times compared to our traditional veterinary testing instrument. We think that partnering with an industry leader like PSS will help us to achieve the leverage, and consequently the recurring revenue, that we believe exists in this market.”
Mr. Severson continued, “From a strategic standpoint, we believe that strong distribution partners provide us the best opportunity to effectively embed our products in the primary care market. Our products will provide medical practices the operating efficiencies that will lead to improved patient outcomes and improved practice profitability. Our expectation is that strong distribution partners will help the Piccolo system to become widely accepted in medical practices and acute care facilities nationwide.”
The U.S. medical market consists of approximately 900,000 physicians. Within this sector, approximately 25,000 offices have CLIA licensure and that number continues to grow.
Chris Bernard, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Abaxis, commented, “We are very pleased to have PSS World Medical, Inc. as our first contracted distribution partner. PSS currently has more than 700 skilled sales representatives across the United States that will act as an extension of the existing Abaxis direct sales force. In 22 years of providing distribution services to primary care office-based physicians, PSS has established strong physician relationships. Abaxis is committed to becoming the leader in Point-of-Care clinical chemistry testing and we firmly believe that a strong distribution partner like PSS will help us attain our goals.”
About PSS World Medical, Inc.
PSS World Medical, Inc. is a national distributor of medical products to physicians and elder care providers through its two business units. Since its inception in 1983, PSS has become a leader in the two market segments that it serves with a focused market approach to customer services, a consultative sales force, strategic acquisitions, strong arrangements with product manufacturers and a unique culture of performance.
About Abaxis
Abaxis develops, manufactures and markets portable blood analysis systems for use in any patient-care setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent measurements. The system consists of a compact, 6.9 kilogram, portable analyzer and a series of 8-cm diameter single-use plastic disks, called reagent discs, which contain all the reagents necessary to perform a fixed menu of tests. The system can be operated with minimal training and perform multiple tests on whole blood, serum, or plasma. The system provides test results in less than 13 minutes with the precision and accuracy equivalent to a clinical laboratory.
This press release includes statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”). 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”, or “anticipates”, and do not reflect historical facts. Specific forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to fluctuations in the Company’s share price, the market acceptance of the Company’s products and the continuing development of its products, required United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) 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 entering the human diagnostic market on a larger scale, risks related to the protection of the Company’s intellectual property or claims of infringement of intellectual property asserted by third parties, risks involved in carrying of inventory, risks associated with the ability to attract, train and retain competent sales personnel, general market conditions, competition and other risks detailed from time to time in ABAXIS’ periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statement was made. ABAXIS does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact: Clint Severson Chief Executive Officer Abaxis, Inc. 510-675-6500 Lytham Partners, LLC Joe Dorame, Joe Diaz or Robert Blum 602-889-9700
Abaxis, Inc.
CONTACT: Clint Severson, Chief Executive Officer of Abaxis, Inc., +1-510-675-6500; or Joe Dorame, Joe Diaz or Robert Blum, all of LythamPartners, LLC, +1-602-889-9700, for Abaxis, Inc.
