bioMérieux Unveils Groundbreaking E. coli O157:H7 Detection Technology at Food Safety Meeting (IAFP*)

VIDAS® UP Recombinant Phage Technology Delivers Unprecedented Level

Marcy L’Etoile, France - July 29, 2008. bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is proud to introduce a breakthrough in food quality testing, VIDAS® UP, for the detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7. This new solution is based on the latest technology available for food pathogen screening: phage recombinant protein, which offers unique specificity and sensitivity. E. coli O157:H7 is a strain of Escherichia coli that has caused outbreaks of hemorrhagic colitis in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe, in some cases leading to death.

VIDAS UP delivers test results in just seven hours and has the flexibility of analyzing larger sample sizes of up to 375 grams. It is significantly faster than molecular methods which can incur additional equipment expenditure and complexity. Exclusively licensed to bioMérieux, the recombinant phage technology was developed by the German company Profos AG. The new test is available on VIDAS®, the world’s leading system for automated pathogen detection.

“E. coli O157:H7 is a major health threat and we are very proud to be at the forefront of the industry with an innovative solution for faster and more precise detection,” said Alexandre Mérieux, bioMérieux Corporate Vice President, Industrial Microbiology. “Quick, accurate detection of E. coli O157:H7 is of critical importance today as we see food-borne illness on the rise. VIDAS UP will allow food producers to detect this pathogen earlier and help keep the public safe from outbreaks.”

Bacteriophages are highly specific viruses that only infect bacteria. They use adhesion structures to bind to their bacterial hosts. In VIDAS UP, special binding proteins from bacteriophages are used for the first time for the targeted capture and detection of bacteria from a sample. This technology provides best-in-class sensitivity and specificity, particularly in highly contaminated samples such as animal waste, irrigation water and animal breeding environments.

* International Association for Food Protection: IAFP 2008, August 3-6, 2008, Columbus, Ohio (USA)

About Bacteriophages
Bacteriophages are some of the most abundant life forms on earth, and are programmed exclusively to infect and identify host bacteria. Phages have co-evolved with bacteria for more than a billion years and are able to survive in the most extreme environments including soil, animal waste and intestinal tracts. Research shows that phages offer a number of advantages over antibodies, such as superior specificity and superior binding, when used in microbiological test systems. Phage proteins have been proven to provide robust performance in many different applications, even when challenged with the most demanding and complex food matrices.

About VIDAS®
VIDAS® is the world’s leading automated system for food-borne pathogen detection (including Listeria spp, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus enterotoxins). VIDAS® and its compact version, mini VIDAS®, are multi-parameter instruments using ELFA (Enzyme Linked Fluorescent Assay) technology, and based on a ready-to-use single-sample test concept.

About bioMérieux

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for 45 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 38 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2007, revenues reached €1.063 billion with 84% 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 cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and monitoring. 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 http://www.biomerieux.com/.