Abaxis, Inc. (ABAX), founded in 1989 and based in Union City, California, manufactures point-of-care blood analyzers for both humans and animals. The analyzers, marketed under the name Piccolo® for the human medical market and under the name VetScan® for the veterinary market, are designed for portability and require minimal training. Able to provide on-the-spot results, the analyzers come with the reagent disc necessary to perform several of the most common blood tests.

The Piccolo analyzer, introduced in November 1995, contained two reagent discs: Primary Health Panel, a nine-test reagent disc, and a General Health Panel, a 12-test reagent disc. The VetScan analyzer, introduced in July 1995, was initially launched with the Diagnostic Profile, a nine-test reagent rotor, but has subsequently added 14 different assays and eight different profiles targeted to fulfill different veterinary diagnostic needs. These portable, easy-to-use chemistry panel systems are marketed to decentralized clinical environments where sample logistics, patient transportation, and result-reporting problems have an impact on the quality of patient care. Currently, Abaxis covers more than 90% of the general chemistry test normally used in medical and veterinary diagnostics.

The company recently announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2008. The company reported revenues of $24.6M, an increase of 7% compared to $22.9M of the same period previous year. Instrument, reagent disc and hematology reagent revenues increased by an aggregate of $1.9M, an increase of 10% from the prior year. Reagent disc and hematology reagent revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 were $14.9M, up 4% from same period last year. Sales for medical and veterinary reagent discs increased 4%, and medical sales in North American, excluding sales to the U.S. government, increased 19%.

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