bioMérieux Takes New Direction to Better Serve Customers and Support the Clinical Laboratory Community

bioMérieux – a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics – announced plans to divert trade-show expense allocations into education and knowledge-exchange initiatives for its customers and the clinical microbiology community. The company plans to launch a new WorkSmart™ initiative, host regional education programs and offer limited-time-only customer incentives.

“Given the dynamics of our marketplace today, we have decided to re-think the status quo and redeploy funds to directly support the needs of our customers,” said Herb Steward, executive vice president and general manager of bioMérieux North America. “Our goal is to drive more educational programs for the clinical lab professional and to offer financial incentives for solutions that impact patient care.”

The company’s WorkSmart initiative will allow lab personnel to share content on relevant topics for an educational grant. WorkSmart is designed to help foster a peer-to-peer dialogue within the clinical microbiology community: www.biomerieux-usa.com/worksmart.

In the past, bioMérieux has made significant investments at trade shows. This year, the company will not exhibit at the ASM General Meeting in May. Given the low representation from the clinical laboratory community at ASM, bioMérieux has decided to reallocate its resources to better serve the educational needs of the clinical laboratory community through WorkSmart and other programs: bioMérieux recently launched its HAI Educational Series that focuses on issues concerning healthcare-associated infections and the role of innovative diagnostics: www.biomerieux-usa.com/hai.

• To help address issues related to shrinking travel budgets, the bioMérieux Odyssey mobile lab tour will play a larger role at regional trade shows and independent events. It also will be available to teaching or university hospitals that have a need for education and training on the latest microbiology solutions: www.biomerieux-usa.com/odyssey.
• bioMérieux will continue to host online webinars and regional show seminars, publishing updated educational documents on its online Education Center: www.biomerieux-usa.com/education.
• bioMérieux will also launch a Customer Loyalty promotion. Information will be highlighted on www.bioMérieux-usa.com and will be communicated to customers directly through sales representatives.

About bioMérieux

Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 39 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2008, revenues reached €1.111 billion with 84 percent of sales outside of France.

bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments, software) that determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its 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 (Code: BIM – Code ISIN: FR0010096479). Other information can be found at www.biomerieux.com.

Media Contacts

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bioMérieux
Allan Mohess
Tel: + 1 919-620-2937
allan.mohess@na.biomerieux.com