| Olympus Corporation (President: Tsuyoshi Kikukawa) will enter the European immunoassay market with full corporate commitment and resource allocation during July 2006, and plans to entry into the U.S, Japanese and Asian markets once all regulatory requirements are satisfied. The proven technologies and internal knowledge base associated with the company’s highly successful Olympus AU®-clinical chemistry systems, serves as the strong foundation for the Olympus AU3000i Immunoassay System and its dedicated reagents. These competencies will also support future business expansion into the molecular diagnostics testing market, which is positioned as one of the next generation medical care. |
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| The universal desire for enhanced “quality of life” in an ageing society is central to the business direction for Olympus Corporation. This focus on healthcare and medical solutions has led to a steady increase in both sales and profits in all the company’s medical/life science divisions. The 21st century is called “the era of life science”, and the Olympus Diagnostics business continues to actively invest in life science related businesses and been rewarded with double-digit annual growth and global sales of approximately 45 billion yen. |
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| Olympus first entered the diagnostic business back in 1971. Since then, Olympus has expanded the business all over the world focusing on clinical chemistry instrumentation and started producing Olympus reagents in 1989. Currently, R&D and manufacturing sites are located in Japan, Germany, France and Ireland. This “system business” approach in which an instrument, reagents, maintenance and customer support can be provided together as one package, together with our “pay per reportable test” program, represents the Olympus customer-oriented response for high quality systems while understanding the worldwide necessity for cost constraint regarding capital equipment expenditures. |
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| The immunoassay market is estimated to be worth $5,500M worldwide. Olympus enters with a system, which although new, is based on its established proven automation technology, system development and manufacturing competency, and extensive assay design and manufacturing experience. Following the European launch of the Olympus AU3000i Immunoassay System in July 2006, Olympus will bring the product to market in the US, Japan and other Asian markets as soon as regulatory requirements of each country are fulfilled. |
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| The first reagent assay panels available will be Thyroid, Fertility and Tumor Markers, and then expand to Cardiac Markers etc. The strong customer support organizations within Olympus for clinical chemistry and now immunoassay, will allow Olympus to expand the diagnostic business sales to more than 60billion yen in three years. |
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| In future, in collaboration with our bio-business, Olympus will develop its business into the molecular diagnostic area, which we position as one of the next generation medical care, to materialize customized medical care on an early stage. |
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