UNION CITY, Calif.,
April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Abaxis,
Inc. (NasdaqGS: ABAX), a medical products company manufacturing
point-of-care blood analysis systems, today announced Health Canada
approved the Piccolo Xpress® and Piccolo Reagent Discs as a Class
III medical device for use throughout Canada. With this
reclassification, Canadian healthcare providers and patients can
now enjoy the benefits of lab-accurate blood chemistry diagnostics
at the point-of-care.
With the Piccolo delivering lab-accurate blood chemistry results
on-site in minutes, Canadian physicians can make confident
treatment decisions while the patient is in their office, thereby
increasing the speed and quality of care. Traditionally,
Canadian patients needing general chemistry results had to visit
their physician, who ordered the laboratory work. Patients would
then go to their local laboratory for the tests and wait up to a
week for the results to be reviewed by the physician. Now
through the Piccolo, patients can receive immediate diagnostic
results and a more complete plan of care during their initial
visit.
"This is indeed great news for the doctors and patients in
Canada," said Clint Severson, chairman and chief executive
officer of Abaxis, Inc. "Waiting up to a week for important
diagnostic results can exacerbate patient conditions and increase
the cost of care. With this approval, now every private
physician in Canada can have
access to fast and accurate blood chemistry diagnostics on-site, in
minutes. By approving the Piccolo for Class III use, Health
Canada has taken an extraordinary step to improve the technology,
speed, efficacy and efficiency of their government-run healthcare
system."
About Abaxis
Abaxis develops, manufactures and
markets 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 14 tests on
veterinary patients and 31 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. For more information please visit
http://www.piccoloxpress.com
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," "anticipates," or words of similar import,
and do not reflect historical facts. Specific forward-looking
statements contained in this press release or in our conference
call may be affected by risks and uncertainties, including, but not
limited to, those related to the market acceptance of the company's
products and 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 entering the human
diagnostic market on a larger scale, risks associated with
liquidity concerns related to our auction rate securities, risks
related to the protection of the company's intellectual property or
claims of infringement of intellectual property asserted by third
parties, predictions related to condition of the United States economy, risks involved in
carrying of inventory 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 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, Robert
Blum and Joe Diaz
|
|
Abaxis,
Inc.
|
602-889-9700
|
|
510-675-6500
|
|
SOURCE Abaxis