NEWS ALERT - Immucor Launches Ready-id.com
Monday November 8, 5:50 pm Eastern Time
Immucor Launches Ready-id.com; First Commercial Internet site for Transfusion Diagnostics
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Immucor, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUD - news), the leading provider of blood bank reagents and automated blood bank testing instruments, today announced the launching of its Ready-id.com web site, the first commercial web site available to assist Transfusion Service laboratories with antibody analysis, continuing education, reference case follow-up, and Internet searches.
The launch of Ready-id.com was announced in conjunction with the 1999 American Association of Blood Banks meeting in San Francisco.
''Immucor continues to demonstrate innovation and leadership in the Transfusion Management process,'' said Edward L. Gallup, president and chief executive officer. ''Ready-id.com is a product that will bring the power of the Internet to Transfusion Services around the world.
''As the pool of specialists in the blood bank continues to diminish, the complex task of analyzing and identifying unexpected red cell antibodies will be left either in the hands of laboratory generalists, or hospitals will be forced to send the testing to a reference lab at an expensive price,'' Gallup explained. ''Ready-id.com's antibody analysis module offers Transfusion Services the online ability to simply and quickly score the reaction onto an easy-to-use results page, and within seconds attain the antibody probabilities.''
In the Transfusions Service, all positive antibody screens must be followed up with a complex analysis to determine the specific antibody present. Failing to perform an accurate identification could lead to a blood transfusion that ends up in a Hemolytic Transfusion reaction, which can be fatal. Current market research indicates that there are more than 1 million antibody identifications performed annually worldwide.
Commenting further, Mr. Gallup said, ''The typical cost to send this analysis to an outside reference laboratory is over $15O. The reagents and labor costs associated with the in-house testing is $25. When combined with the $10 analysis charge for Ready-id.com, the $35 total expense of doing the antibody analysis in-house is significantly less than sending the sample to an outside lab. An added benefit to utilizing Ready-id.com for this type of analysis is the rapid turnaround time for results allowing immediate treatment of a patient.''
Ready-id.com also offers an efficient means for blood bank technologists to maintain continuing education credits. In addition, it will serve as a source for generalists to access blood bank training. Immucor has built Ready-id.com's education modules from comprehensive training materials, resulting in three modules that take the ''student'' through Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Blood Banking.
''We believe Ready-id.com will provide ongoing support for hospitals and technologists around the globe,'' Gallup said. ''Ready-id.com is a tremendous adjunct to
our automated product family.''
Immucor, Inc. is the largest blood bank reagent manufacturer in North America, and sells the only fully automated, FDA cleared transfusion diagnostics device on the market. Immucor provides a family of automated systems that address the processing needs of hospital blood banks, reference laboratories and donor centers of all sizes. Extensive information about Immucor, its products and their applications is available at immucor.com
This press release may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements concerning the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Further risks are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
SOURCE: Immucor, Inc. |
