Press Information

AXIS-SHIELD WINS SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE LIFE SCIENCES BUSINESS LEADERSHIP AWARD

Dundee, Scotland, 5 February 2010: Axis-Shield plc (LSE:ASD, OSE:ASD), the international in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) company, today announces that it has received the award for best Business Leadership at the Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Annual Dinner 2010.

The award recognises business leaders and management teams that have significantly advanced Scottish life sciences companies during the previous year. The judges said that leaders at Axis-Shield "had expertly guided the company during the economic downturn to report another year of significant progress in 2009. The company, which has grown from a spin out in 1982 to a multinational with around 500 staff globally, has delivered a number of landmark achievements over the last year, including Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance on a range of innovative products with global market potential."

The award was presented at the Scottish Enterprise annual dinner in Edinburgh on Thursday 4th February in front of more than 750 representatives from the life sciences community in Scotland and worldwide.

Rhona Allison, senior director of Life Sciences at Scottish Enterprise, said: "Axis-Shield is a high quality company and an excellent winner of this year's Business Leadership Award.  Its management team has guided the company to an outstanding year." 

Ian Gilham, chief executive of Axis-Shield, commented: "We are very pleased to have our achievements at Axis-Shield recognised by winning such a prestigious award. Since the inception of Shield Diagnostics as a spin-out from the University of Dundee in the early 1980's, we have gone from strength to strength and we are now producing substantial sustainable revenues and profits and are quoted on the London and Oslo Stock Exchanges.

"Our Dundee Headquarters remain a cornerstone of our global business and we expect to continue to grow our laboratory diagnostics sales from this important site."  

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About Axis-Shield

Axis-Shield is an international in vitro diagnostics company, headquartered in Dundee with R&D and manufacturing bases in Dundee and Oslo.  The Groupspecialises 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.

For more information on Axis-Shield, please refer to www.axis-shield.com