UNION CITY, Calif.,
Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/
-- Abaxis, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ABAX), a medical products company
manufacturing point of care instruments and consumables for the
medical, research, and veterinary markets, and providing reference
lab services to the veterinary and research markets, announced
today that a settlement had been reached in its lawsuit with
Cepheid, Inc. (NasdaqGS: CPHD), over several Abaxis patents
relating to reagent and chemical compositions and processes. As
part of the agreement, Cepheid will pay Abaxis $17.25 million, and all claims asserted against
Cepheid in the pending litigation have been dismissed.
"This will allow both companies to move forward with ongoing
activities in sales, development and manufacturing without the
distraction of protracted litigation," said Clint Severson, CEO and Chairman of Abaxis. "We
are pleased with the outcome of this agreement, and pleased that at
Abaxis we can now all concentrate our activities in our core
business areas: point of care testing and veterinary laboratory
services."
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.
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"),
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
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,
risks related to condition of the United
States economy and other risks detailed under "Risk Factors"
in Abaxis' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2012 and Abaxis' other
periodic reports filed from time to time 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.
Contact:
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Abaxis, Inc.
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Lytham
Partners, LLC
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Clint Severson
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Joe
Dorame, Robert Blum and Joe Diaz
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Chief Executive Officer
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602-889-9700
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510-675-6500
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SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.