UNION CITY, Calif.,
Jan. 20, 2015 /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, today announced
that the Center for Veterinary Biologicals of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) has approved its VetScan FeLV-FIV Rapid Test
Kit for the detection of FeLV antigen and FIV antibodies from
feline blood samples.
Clint Severson, chairman,
president and chief executive officer of Abaxis, said, "The USDA
approval of the VetScan FeLV-FIV Rapid Test kit is a significant
step towards completing the Abaxis rapid test portfolio. Feline
Leukemia virus (FeLV) and the feline immunodefiency virus (FIV) are
retroviruses found in cats, and are among the most common
infectious diseases in this species. FeLV-FIV testing is one of the
most common tests performed by veterinarians treating feline
patients, and Abaxis is proud to offer another high quality,
cost-effective test to the veterinary market."
Dr. Craig Tockman, vice president
of sales and marketing for North American Animal Health of Abaxis,
added, "Veterinarians now have a choice as to what FeLV-FIV test to
use when they screen and test their feline patients for these
devastating illnesses. As part of the Abaxis rapid test portfolio
offering single tests for vector-born and fecal diseases,
veterinarians now have the ability to test for the diseases that
are relevant to their practice and geographic location."
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, 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' 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.
Contact: Clint
Severson
|
Lytham
Partners, LLC
|
Chief Executive
Officer
|
Joe Dorame, Joe Diaz
& Robert Blum
|
Abaxis,
Inc.
|
602-889-9700
|
510-675-6500
|
|
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/abaxis-inc-announces-usda-approval-of-vetscan-felvfiv-feline-rapid-test-300022605.html
SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.