Abaxis Awarded Veterinary Services Central Fund (VSCF) Contract for Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Services from the Department of the Army

UNION CITY, Calif., Feb. 6, 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 that the Department of the Army, Army NAF Contracting has awarded the Company, a contract to provide veterinary diagnostic laboratory services to the Veterinary Services Central Fund (VSCF).  This contract provides point-of-care laboratory diagnostic instruments and reagents, as well as reference laboratory services through Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratories (AVRL) to approximately 118 Army veterinary activities within the Continental United States (CONUS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS).  The period of performance under this contract is for one year, effective immediately with options for four additional one-year periods with maximum order/quantity limitations of $3 million per year.

Randall Knick, Director of Government Affairs of Abaxis, Inc., commented, "Based on the merit of the Abaxis diagnostic product portfolio, we are very pleased to receive the award from the Department of the Army.  Historically, we have had a very strong relationship with all U.S. military branches both on the human and veterinary market.  We are excited to standardize all of the 118 veterinary clinics as this will allow for an easier transition and shorter training times for the end users, thus providing better results to their clients.  We look forward to continue to support our Armed Forces."

About Veterinary Services Central Fund (VSCF)
Until FY 2011, Veterinary Treatment Facilities (VTFs) funds were a part of the Non-appropriated Fund Instrumentality (NAFI) at each local installation. The Veterinary Services Central Fund (VSCF) was developed to capitalize on the efficiencies of consolidation of NAF manpower and purchasing power, among other things, into a stand-alone centralized US Army NAF fund under US Army Public Health Command for all Army Veterinary Treatment Facilities. In FY 12, the Veterinary Facilities on Navy and Marine Corps installations  joined the VSCF and were followed later in the year by all VTFs on Air Force installations. The VSCF has standardized many VTF procedures, financial operations, accounting submissions, and human resources actions giving greater oversight to many areas of operations within each clinic.

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' 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 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.