Alere Medical Partners With Joslin Diabetes Center; Partnership is Next Major Strategic Business Move to Reinforce Alere's Commitment to Expanding Its Specialized Offerings in Multiple Disease Areas.

RENO, Nev. -- Alere Medical Inc., the leading specialty disease management company, and Joslin Diabetes Center have established a strategic alliance to co-develop a diabetes disease management program within Alere's portfolio of disease management products. This agreement augments Alere's expansion into multiple disease management categories.

Joslin Diabetes Center, located in Boston, MA, is an independent, nonprofit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and is the global leader in diabetes research, patient care and education. By partnering with Joslin's Disease Management team, Alere gains access to over 100 years of expertise in providing high-quality, cost-effective, outcome-focused care for people with diabetes.

According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes affects an estimated 18.2 million people in the United States and often leads to heart and renal disease. By early detection, appropriate interventions, on-going monitoring and education, complications can be prevented. This has been the cornerstone of Joslin's mission, which will now be available to Alere's clients.

"Our business strategy is to partner with best-in-class organizations which bring complementary expertise in specific disease states. Joslin Diabetes Center is a recognized industry leader in diabetes, with an outstanding reputation for continuous innovation that meets the ever-changing challenges of the disease," said Ron Geraty, M.D., chief executive officer, Alere Medical. "We see the Joslin partnership as an important step in furthering Alere's goal of firmly establishing ourselves as a diversified and nationally recognized disease management company."

Under the terms of the agreement, Joslin will work with Alere to assure that the diabetes program meets Joslin's internationally renowned standards and that the program interventions lead to the best outcomes. Additionally, both organizations will work to develop and produce new co-branded, co-owned diabetes-related programs and products, based on Joslin's evidence-based clinical guidelines. Additionally, Alere will consult with Joslin on an ongoing basis regarding the care, education and treatment of patients with congestive heart failure, COPD, coronary artery disease, and renal disease who also have diabetes as a co-morbidity. Joslin will also provide diabetes care management training to Alere staff, and ongoing sales and marketing support, in addition to developing, delivering, reviewing and updating co-branded diabetes content for use by patients receiving Alere's services.

"Alere's approach to disease management aligns with Joslin's philosophy of supporting the patient/provider relationship in an effort to reduce the short- and long-term complications of chronic disease," said James Rosenzweig, M.D., Director of Disease Management at Joslin Diabetes Center. "We look forward to working with Alere to extend the reach of Joslin's diabetes disease management expertise. Our goal is to create an industry-leading program that can directly address the growing diabetes epidemic."

About Alere Medical Inc.

Alere Medical Inc. is the leader in specialized, disease management services focusing on select high cost diseases to maximize clients' return on investment. Alere produces unequalled clinical and cost saving results, by precision targeting the patients who will benefit most from specialty interventions. Alere's integrated care monitoring system identifies and monitors all medium- and high-risk patients, and prioritizes those patients to facilitate efficient workflow. With published outcomes that exceed those of any competitor, Alere Medical's disease management programs result in improved clinical outcomes for patients and guaranteed savings for clients.

Alere Medical has received NCQA Patient Oriented Full Accreditation for its Heart Failure Disease Management Program (2004-2007), and is also ranked #64 on the Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing private companies (2004). For more information, visit www.alere.com or call [phone].

About Joslin's Disease Management

Joslin's Disease Management department offers a portfolio of products and programs that support healthcare organizations in their disease management initiatives. By partnering with Joslin, clients gain access to over 100 years of expertise in providing high quality, cost-effective, outcome-focused care for people with diabetes. Joslin's patient-centric approach to disease management supports the patient/provider relationship, decreases variability in practice, reduces short- and long-term complications, increases quality-of-life and patient satisfaction, and meets or exceeds regulatory standards. For more information about Joslin's Disease Management products and programs designed for organizations interested in improving diabetes outcomes, call 617-226-5820, option 3.

About Joslin Diabetes Center

Joslin Diabetes Center, dedicated to conquering diabetes in all of its forms, is the global leader in diabetes research, care and education. Founded in 1898, Joslin is an independent nonprofit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Joslin research is a team of more than 300 people at the forefront of discovery aimed at preventing and curing diabetes. Joslin Clinic, affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the nationwide network of Joslin Affiliated Programs, and the hundreds of Joslin educational programs offered each year for clinicians, researchers and patients, enable Joslin to develop, implement and share innovations that immeasurably improve the lives of people with diabetes. For more information about Joslin, call 1-800-JOSLIN-1 or visit www.joslin.org.