Abaxis Announces the Formation of a Clinical Pathology Resident Fund at Kansas State University

UNION CITY, Calif., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Abaxis, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ABAX), a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, announced today its sponsorship of the Kansas State University Foundation to form the Abaxis Clinical Pathology Resident Fund that will provide support for a clinical pathology resident in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University.

"The formation of the Abaxis Clinical Pathology Resident Fund further exemplifies the strength of our partnership with the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and our national reference laboratory, Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratories (AVRL), located in Olathe, KS," commented Clint Severson, Chairman, President and CEO of Abaxis. "With the recent national launch of AVRL, we continue to look for additional ways to partner with KSU."

Ralph C. Richardson, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine added, "The University's relationship with Abaxis and Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratories has been an important evolution that will broaden the reach of the College of Veterinary Medicine and help us to achieve our goal of being one of the top veterinary schools in the country."

In January, Abaxis and Kansas State University announced a partnership to form AVRL which began nationwide commercial operations October 1. AVRL is a full service veterinary reference laboratory offering a broad range of tests, some of which are performed at the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. AVRL markets its services on a national basis and already has over 300 clinics signed up as customers across the country. The partnership between Abaxis and Kansas State University is aimed at leveraging their respective strengths to take advantage of an estimated $800 million veterinary laboratory market.

About Kansas State University

Kansas State University is a land-grant, public research university with three campuses across the state. The Olathe campus will bring together K-State's expertise in animal health and food safety and security. The College of Veterinary Medicine is one of only 28 accredited veterinary colleges in the United States and has more than 450 veterinary students enrolled there. The Graduate School offers 65 masters degrees, 45 doctoral degrees and 22 graduate certificates. K-State has more than 250 undergraduate majors and options.

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 in dogs, Parvovirus and Giardia.  Abaxis, through its AVRL Division, provides routine laboratory testing as well as specialty testing for veterinarians' nationwide.  This state-of-the-art commercial laboratory will be the hub of the Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratories (AVRL).

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 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, 2011 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.

SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.