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MDS Diagnostic Services Selects bioMerieux to Fully Automate Eight Labs MDS Diagnostic Services, the largest provider of laboratory testing services in Canada, to implement the VITEK(R) 2 DURHAM, N.C., May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- bioMerieux, Inc., a leading medical diagnostics company, today announced it has secured a five-year contract with MDS Diagnostic Services, the largest provider of laboratory testing services in Canada. Under the terms of this arrangement, bioMerieux will supply its VITEK(R) 2 automated bacteriology identification and susceptibility testing (ID/AST) system to eight MDS laboratories in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. "We serve patients directly through our own community medical laboratories and the hospital labs we manage, which combined, provide more than 50 million clinical tests every year," said Dr. Brian Sheridan, senior vice president of medical affairs, MDS Diagnostic Services. "After evaluating several providers, we selected the VITEK 2 because of its ability to manage, with accuracy and speed, the large volumes of diagnostic tests processed for physicians and patients in our labs every day." VITEK 2 provides rapid results processing (a two to six hour average turnaround), which enables MDS Diagnostic Services to provide timely and accurate test results to the more than 21,000 health care providers and 17 million patients it serves annually. "We were willing to invest in a fully automated system to support our goal of delivering the highest quality service to our customers," Sheridan continued. "Our dedication to research and development continues to broaden the realm of in vitro diagnostics," said Eric Bouvier, president and CEO, bioMerieux, Inc., North America. "We are proud to be selected by MDS Diagnostic Services and look forward to developing this new relationship and providing MDS with innovative, proven and cost-efficient products, such as the VITEK 2." The VITEK 2 is a fully automated bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing system. The system also includes a highly advanced software system that then interprets the identified bacteria's antibiotic resistance patterns. Additionally, bioMerieux has designed a unique, 64-well susceptibility card specifically for MDS to further enhance productivity on their VITEK 2 instruments. The VITEK 2 offers random or batch processing, rapid results and a quality control module. The system is used for bacterial and yeast identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and urine screening and features an Advanced Expert(TM) System (AES) and Observa(R), complete data management system. The VITEK 2 has already been implemented in two labs in British Columbia. Implementation of VITEK 2 in MDS' Ontario labs will begin this summer. About MDS Diagnostic Services MDS Diagnostic Services, a business unit of MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS) (NYSE:MDZ), is a leading provider of laboratory testing and management services. MDS Inc. has more than 9,000 highly skilled people in 25 countries. MDS Inc. provides a diverse range of superior products and services to increase its customers' speed, precision and productivity in the drug development and disease diagnosis processes. MDS Inc. is a global, values- driven health and life sciences company, recognized for our reliability and collaborative relationships as we help create better outcomes in the treatment of disease. Find out more at http://www.mdsintl.com/ or by calling 1-888-MDS-7222, 24 hours a day. About bioMerieux, Inc. bioMerieux, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of bioMerieux S.A., a company headquartered in France. bioMerieux is a leading international diagnostics group that specializes in the field of in vitro diagnostics for clinical and industrial applications. bioMerieux designs, develops, manufactures and markets systems (i.e. reagents, instruments and software) used in: - Clinical applications: the diagnosis of infectious diseases such as hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis and respiratory illnesses, as well as pathologies such as certain cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers, based on the analysis of biological samples (such as blood, saliva or urine); and - Industrial applications: the microbiological analysis of food, environments (such as water and air), surfaces and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, based on product or environmental samples. In 2004, bioMerieux sales reached 931 million euros (i.e., approximately 1.2 billion dollars). The company is present in more than 130 countries through 33 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors, which positions the company well to benefit from the growth potential of the in vitro diagnostics market. Some important drivers that underpin this growth are aging populations and age-related illness, illnesses related to life-style and eating habits, emerging new pathogens, the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the fight against bio-terrorism, and the recognition of the importance of the quality of food products. bioMerieux is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris (symbol "BIM", ISIN code: FR0010096479). For more information, visit the web site at http://www.biomerieux-usa.com/ . DATASOURCE: bioMerieux CONTACT: Paige Sargent of French-West-Vaughan, +1-919-277-1162, or ; or Christelle Chabert, +33 (0)4 78 87 52 01, or , or Investor Relations, Dominique Takizawa or Herve Laurent, +33 (0)4 78 87 22 37, or all of bioMerieux Web site: http://www.biomerieux-usa.com/ http://www.mdsintl.com/

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