Cepheid Files Answer and Counterclaims in Abaxis Patent Suit

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) announced today that it has filed an answer and counterclaims in a patent suit brought by Abaxis on June 28, 2010 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  In its filing, Cepheid denied Abaxis' allegations of patent infringement, asked the Court to determine it has paid all royalties due and is in full compliance with all the terms of its license, and to find that Abaxis' patents are invalid.  

In 2005, Cepheid entered into a royalty-bearing license agreement with Abaxis for certain patents relating to lyophilization technology.  Since then, Cepheid has introduced an internally-developed manufacturing process outside the scope of Abaxis patents that has resulted in reduced royalty payments to Abaxis, although the Company continues to pay royalties associated with certain other products.

About Cepheid

Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is an on-demand molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets fully-integrated systems and tests for genetic analysis in the clinical, industrial and biothreat markets. The Company's systems enable rapid, sophisticated genetic testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases by automating otherwise complex manual laboratory procedures. Cepheid's easy-to-use systems integrate a number of complicated and time-intensive steps, including sample preparation, DNA amplification and detection, which enable the analysis of complex biological samples in its proprietary test cartridges. Through its strong molecular biology capabilities, the Company is focusing on those applications where rapid molecular testing is particularly important, such as identifying infectious disease and cancer in the clinical market; food, agricultural, and environmental testing in the industrial market; and identifying bio-terrorism agents in the biothreat market.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are not purely historical regarding Cepheid's or its management's intentions, beliefs, expectations and strategies for the future.  Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the company's current expectations.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as those relating to the inherent uncertainties of intellectual property litigation. Readers should also refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Cepheid's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2009 and in its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, each filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date of this press release, based on information currently available to Cepheid, and Cepheid assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reasons why results might differ.


CONTACTS:


For Media Inquiries:

For Investor Inquiries:

Jared Tipton

Cepheid Corporate Communications

Tel: (408) 400-8377

[email protected]

Jacquie Ross

Cepheid Investor Relations

Tel: (408) 400-8329

[email protected]





SOURCE Cepheid