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AXIS-SHIELD PLC INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Dundee, Scotland, 29 October 2009. Axis-Shield plc (LSE:ASD, OSE:ASD), the international in vitro diagnostics company, today issues an Interim Management Statement for the 17 week period ending October 29 2009, as required by the UK Listing Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Revenues for 2009 so far are in line with the Company’s expectations and there have been no significant changes in the financial position of the Company since the publication of the 2009 Half Year Report in August. 

In the Point-of-Care Division, sales of Afinion™ and NycoCard™ continue to progress well. The installed base of Afinion™ instruments is increasing in line with our forecasts and is on target for 2,500 new placements in 2009, making 6,500 in total. Afinion™ revenues and potential in the key US market continue to be very promising, and Axis-Shield was named “Vendor of the Year” by Physician Sales and Service (PSS, our distributor for the American physician’s office market), out of over 1000 suppliers. Higher sales of Afinion™ cartridges are leading to increased production efficiency and improved margins, though these may be offset by the continuing strength of the Norwegian currency.   The Afinion™ menu extension programme is progressing well, although because of a technical delay to the cartridge development for PT (prothrombin time for monitoring anticoagulant therapy), the Company now anticipates launch of this product in H1, 2010.  

In the Laboratory Division homocysteine and anti-CCP ELISA revenues have been particularly strong and sales of the latter marker should be boosted further by the imminent launch of anti-CCP on the Abbott Architect^® system, after its recent marketing clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration. The continuing success of anti-CCP in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis has encouraged non-licensed competition and Axis-Shield is strenuously defending its intellectual property position in the US and Europe. The Company continues to ensure its inventions are covered by strong patent protection and has recently received notification of the grant of a US patent for the technology employed in the AxSYM^® HbA1c assay for monitoring diabetic compliance. 

The Distribution Division continues to perform well and the Company is particularly pleased with the performance of the recently acquired German PoC distribution organisation, where the new management has successfully built on the transferred existing business.  

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Axis-ShieldAxis-Shield (www.axis-shield.com) is an international in vitro diagnostics company, headquartered in Dundee with R&D and manufacturing bases in Dundee and Oslo.  The Group specialises in the supply of instruments and tests for the rapidly growing physician’s office testing market and the development, manufacture and marketing of innovative proprietary diagnostics kits in areas of clinical need, including cardiovascular and neurological diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes.