UNION CITY,
Calif., Oct. 1,
2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Abaxis, Inc. (NasdaqGS:
ABAX), a medical products company manufacturing
point-of-care instruments and consumables for the medical,
research, and veterinary markets worldwide and providing reference
lab services to the veterinary and research markets in the United States, announced today it has
entered into a definitive distribution agreement with MWI
Veterinary Supply. MWI will inventory, market and promote the full
line of Abaxis veterinary products throughout the United States. MWI sales and marketing
activities will commence on January 2,
2013.
Clint Severson, Abaxis
President and Chief Executive Officer commented: "We welcome MWI to
the Abaxis external organization and look forward to their
incremental contributions to our business and their own. I would
also at this time like to reinforce and emphasize our commitment to
our existing roster of distributor partners. Abaxis will continue
to work hard in supporting their efforts in continuing to build and
strengthen our mutual businesses."
"We are pleased with the commitment MWI has made to Abaxis
in the roll out of the new relationship. We view MWI as an
additional strategic partner that will allow Abaxis significant
further penetration in the US animal health market, in particular
in the western United States where
Abaxis has had limited distribution. This new relationship will
benefit the industry, the veterinarian who provides the medical
care, their patients and the pet owner alike," added Martin Mulroy, Chief Commercial Officer for
Abaxis.
"MWI is very pleased to have the opportunity to offer
Abaxis diagnostics to our veterinary customers and we look forward
to working closely with Abaxis," said Jim
Cleary, MWI President and Chief Executive
Officer.
About MWI
MWI is a leading distributor of animal health products
across the United States of
America and United Kingdom.
MWI sells both companion animal and production animal products
including pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics,
micro feed ingredients, supplies, pet food, capital equipment and
nutritional products. MWI also is a leading innovator and provider
of value-added services and technologies used by veterinarians and
producers.
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:
|
Abaxis,
Inc.
|
Lytham Partners,
LLC
|
|
Clint
Severson
|
Joe Dorame, Robert Blum and
Joe Diaz
|
|
Chief Executive
Officer
|
602-889-9700
|
|
510-675-6500
|
SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.