Quidel and bioMérieux form alliance in rapid diagnostics

16 January 2008

Quidel Corporation (NASDAQ: QDEL) and bioMérieux (Euronext: BIM) have agreed to form a long-term global alliance in rapid clinical diagnostics for the point of care. bioMérieux will become Quidel’s primary distributor for its QuickVue rapid diagnostic tests outside the United States and the two companies intend to co-develop new rapid tests using Quidel’s market leading rapid test development capability and bioMérieux’s expertise and extensive library of antibodies and antigens. The companies will especially leverage their mutual expertise in the area of infectious diseases.

bioMérieux will be the exclusive distributor of all of Quidel’s current QuickVue rapid diagnostic tests in all countries with the exception of the United States, Japan and Scandinavia, starting in May 2008. Branding for these products will reflect the strength and market power of both companies. bioMérieux has over 1,900 sales, marketing and service representatives and a base of more than 45,000 instruments installed in over 150 countries worldwide. bioMérieux is a world leader in diagnostics for infectious diseases and has developed a very large library of biologics for its automated immunoassay systems, VIDAS® and VIDIA®.

“Quidel is pleased to be entering into a mutually beneficial alliance with a globally respected diagnostics leader that increases the reach of our products to markets around the world. Our intention is to create a partnership for co-development of a pipeline of new, high-value point-of-care tests intended to be sold in the U.S. by Quidel and in the rest of the world by bioMérieux exclusively,” said Caren Mason, president and CEO of Quidel Corporation.

“We are delighted with this very synergistic partnership with Quidel,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of bioMérieux. “Quidel is recognized for the high quality of its products and its focus on providing accurate and cost-effective solutions to detect and minimize the spread of infectious diseases. Together, we will establish a global brand supporting clinicians’ decisions at their patients’ point-of-care,” he added.