Abaxis Announces Distribution Agreement with Henry Schein Animal Health

UNION CITY, Calif., Oct. 21, 2014 /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 non-exclusive distribution agreement with Henry Schein Animal Health. Henry Schein will sell the full line of Abaxis veterinary products throughout the United States with sales and marketing activities commencing immediately.

Clint Severson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Abaxis, Inc., commented, "We are pleased to welcome Henry Schein to the growing Abaxis distribution network.  The addition of Henry Schein, as with all of our other distribution partners, is a reflection of the quality and efficacy of our VetScan line of diagnostic instruments for the veterinary profession. We value our partnership with Henry Schein and the opportunity to increase our presence and grow our market share for both respective businesses. Our expanded roster of distribution will help us to better serve the veterinary community."

Craig Tockman, DVM, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Abaxis, Inc. added, "We are committed to partnering with distributors like Henry Schein Animal Health, who provide the best access to the veterinary practice because of their relationships and the value they provide to the veterinarian.  Distributors help the veterinarian with best practices in their business, and understand that diagnostics is one of the most important areas in veterinary medicine today. Henry Schein is a world-class organization and we are pleased they will represent Abaxis."

"We look forward to representing the full line of Abaxis veterinary products in the United States as we deliver industry-leading solutions to our veterinary customer," said Lonnie Shoff, the Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein's Global Animal Health and Strategic Partnership Group.  "With this agreement, we will offer our customers the full suite of Abaxis product choices that are increasingly important to veterinarians and pet owners as the standard of care in animal health continues to increase.  In addition to offering Abaxis's award-winning diagnostic products, Henry Schein Animal Health, through our market-leading software companies, will fully integrate with Abaxis's diagnostic results allowing our veterinary customer to provide pet owners and the animals that they care for with the highest level of care."

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, Ehrlichia and Lyme disease.  Abaxis, through its AVRL division, provides routine laboratory testing as well as specialty testing for veterinarians nationwide.

About Henry Schein Animal Health, U.S.
Henry Schein Animal Health, based in Dublin, Ohio, is a leading companion animal health distribution company in the United States.  The Company employs approximately 900 team members, including 300 field sales representatives and 200 telesales and customer support representatives.  With 13 strategically located, state-of-the-art distribution facilities and 10 inside sales centers, the Company maintains a greater than a 99 percent order-fill ratio, accomplishing its mission of providing the right product at the right place and the right time.

Henry Schein Animal Health partners with over 480 channel suppliers to bring veterinarians the broadest selection of products to companion animal, equine and large animal practices including: dental, diagnostics, diets, equipment and supplies, nutraceuticals, orthopedics, parasiticides, pharmaceuticals and more.

In addition, the Company helps veterinarians grow their practice with its strategic business solutions including AVImark® and ImproMed® Practice Management Software, Henry Schein® Financial Services, Henry Schein® ProRepair®, HRVetResource, Intelligent Inventory®, Leadership Intelligence, MyVetDirect.com® Home Delivery, Opperman Manual, OSHA Compliance Solutions, Pet I.D. Cards, Privacy Edge Identify Theft Protection, Professional Development Program, SmartPak™, VetPressOnline Client Communications, Veterinary Instrumentation™, website development and more. For more information, visit www.henryscheinvet.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"), 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 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.

SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.