bioMérieux Co-Sponsors French Medical Days in Shanghai

bioMérieux, a leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, present in China for 22 years, is working closely with Chinese healthcare professionals and institutions to address major public health issues through a number of initiatives and partnerships.

bioMérieux is a co-sponsor of the 2010 French Medical Days, created to facilitate medical cooperation between French and Chinese physicians. The French Medical Days were organized on May 15th, under the auspices of the Chinese and French Ministers of Health. Alain Mérieux, President of bioMérieux, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French Minister of Health and Sports, and Prof. Pierre Carli, head of the SAMU of Paris, were among the participants. bioMérieux held a workshop on The Clinical Relevance of the D-dimer Marker for the Exclusion of Thrombosis, featuring the President of the French Cardiology Association, Dr. Pascal Gueret, and Prof. Jing ZhiCheng from the Shanghai Tongji Pulmonary Circulation Hospital. The purpose of the workshop was to educate healthcare professionals on how to diagnose, or safely exclude, out-patients with suspected Venous Thromboembolism (VTE), a condition that can lead to life-threatening complications.

Commenting on the meetings, Alain Mérieux said: “It is important to promote an increased exchange of expertise and experience between French and Chinese medical professionals to address common public health challenges. bioMérieux has participated actively in the French Medical Days since the beginning, in 2008, and I am very pleased to support this key initiative.”

bioMérieux also co-sponsored the Shanghai Expo 2010 Seminar on Emergency Medicine held May 12th in the French Pavilion. Organized by the French Emergency Medical Assistance Service(SAMU), the seminar was designed to promote academic cooperation between healthcare professionals of Shanghai Xinhua Hospital and Paris hospitals. The Deputy Director of the Xinhua Emergency Center, Dr. Pan Shuming, was among the speakers, which included leading Chinese and French emergency medicine specialists.

The May 14th inauguration of the Sino-French Emergency Satellite Laboratory marked another important milestone in cooperation between the two countries in the field of emergency medicine. The laboratory was created through an agreement signed between Shanghai Jiaotong University Xinhua Hospital and bioMérieux. Located within the biggest emergency department in Shanghai, the laboratory’s mission will be to improve the diagnosis and management of disease for critical care patients. bioMérieux, a recognized provider of critical-care solutions for hospital environments, helped to fund and equip the laboratory with its fully automated VIDAS® immunoassay system. The instrument’s complete emergency test panel will enable clinicians to diagnose key diseases such as myocardial infarction and venous thromboembolism in only 20 minutes.

As part of its commitment to address public health issues in China, bioMérieux also signed two important partnerships on May 13th.

• bioMérieux signed an agreement with the Shanghai Health Bureau and the Bio-economics Department of Fudan University to conduct a pilot program to assess the use of diagnostic solutions in community and County Healthcare Centers (CHC).
• bioMérieux’s parent company, the Institut Mérieux, represented by its president, Alain Mérieux, signed a 5-year agreement to renew and extend its collaboration with Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Hospital, one of the largest cancer centers in China. Since 2007, researchers from bioMérieux and hospital oncologists in a joint laboratory have been collaborating on the identification of tumor biomarkers from blood and tissues for the early detection of cancers and prediction of treatment efficacy. The scope of the laboratory has expanded to include researchers from Transgene, another Institut Mérieux company.

In another example of successful public-private, Sino-French healthcare cooperation, bioMérieux and the Chinese Ministry of Health have collaborated on healthcare-associated infection control (HAI) since 2008. Nine hospitals in five major Chinese cities are participating in this partnership, which includes conducting a MDRO (Multi-Drug Resistant Organism) colonization baseline study in intensive care units for prospective control, as well as training of the personnel.

China is strategic for bioMérieux. The company has a solid base in China, where it has had a subsidiary since 1992, with headquarters today in Shanghai and 5 regional offices. 2009 sales in China grew by 25%. The recent acquisitions, in early 2010, of Meikang Biotech and Zenka, and the joint venture created in 2008 with Shanghai Kehua Bio-engineering, have further strengthened bioMérieux’s position in China, giving the company fully integrated capacities in R&D and manufacturing for rapid tests, culture media and microplate immunoassays. bioMérieux China has more than 300 employees and a large network of distributors.

About bioMérieux

Advancing diagnostics to improve public health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for over 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 39 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2009, revenues reached €1.223 billion with 85% of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Our products are used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical value results for cancer screening and monitoring and cardiovascular emergencies. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.

bioMérieux is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris market (Symbol: BIM – ISIN: FR0010096479).

Other information can be found at www.biomerieux.com

Contacts

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