Abaxis Announces New Waived Kidney Check Panel Exclusively for Imaging and Radiolo...( UNION CITY Calif. Oct. 3 /- Abaxi...),Health

UNION CITY, Calif., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abaxis, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABAX), a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood chemistry analysis systems, announced today the launch of the Kidney Check Panel to be used in conjunction with the Piccolo xpress(TM) point of care analyzer.

The new Kidney Check Panel was designed specifically for imaging and radiology centers in the United States to determine the level of renal insufficiency prior to the injection of contrast agents for MRI procedures. This panel contains Creatinine (CRE) and Urea Nitrogen (BUN). As a result of prior FDA clearance on these two analytes, the Kidney Check Panel is released as a CLIA-waived panel.

"Many contrast mediums currently used during an MRI procedure in the outpatient setting can have an adverse effect on the kidneys. The ability to check kidney function prior to and in some cases post MRI, enables the radiologist to rapidly assess the risk level of each patient. In recent months, the FDA has released black box warnings on some of these gadolinium-based contrast agents," stated Dr. Dennis Bleile, Director of Assay Performance and Compliance for Abaxis, Inc.

"The Kidney Check Panel provides a critical solution for the rapid, on-site classification and triaging of MRI patients," commented Rick Betts, Abaxis' Director of Marketing. "We believe this latest CLIA-waived offering answers a significant need for the imaging and radiology market by providing a simple, fast and accurate chemistry solution for on-site kidney function analysis. We also believe the Kidney Check Panel will help increase the efficiency and reduce the risks for our imaging and radiology center customers."

About Abaxis, Inc.