Careside Technology Featured at Major Clinical Chemistry Conference.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

CULVER CITY, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 19, 2000

Innovative technology for physician office lab testing developed by Careside Inc. (AMEX:CSA) will be featured at next week's annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC).

A variety of the company's routine blood chemistry tests performed on the Careside Analyzer(TM) will be highlighted in scientific poster presentations on Tuesday, July 25 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the AACC conference, held at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center.

"These presentations validate the science of the Careside Analyzer, which makes it the ideal instrument for physician office labs, outpatient clinics and certain hospital settings like emergency, intensive care departments and selected nursing units," said W. Vickery Stoughton, Careside's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our desktop instrument offers the broadest available menu of routine chemistry tests in a point-of-care (POC) testing instrument. These tests utilize the same gold standard of measurements as large analyzers in clinical reference labs. But the compact Careside Analyzer obtains results in four to 12 minutes, versus the four to 24 hours it takes to get test results back from reference and hospital labs."

Careside's scientific presentations at AACC indicate the validity, accuracy and lack of significant interference of various individual tests. Tests being presented are those for the detection of direct bilirubin, magnesium, uric acid, total protein, inorganic phosphorous, glucose, albumin, blood ammonia, simultaneous detection of sodium, potassium and chloride ions, creatine kinase, and creatine kinase MB. More than 15,000 specimens were analyzed to establish the performance claims on these 13 tests. Careside is the only company currently offering a direct bilirubin test on a POC testing instrument.

"The tests we're presenting at AACC are representative of the depth and breadth of the Careside Analyzer's menu for testing in any clinical setting," said Tom Grove, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief technology office at Careside.

The Careside Analyzer's patented, disposable test cartridges have pre-mixed reagents designed to accept anti-coagulated whole blood, serum or plasma specimens. Specific channels and chambers in each cartridge assure proper sample separation, sample metering and dispensing, test incubation and result detection. Spectral transmittance, reflectance and electrochemical testing formats are utilized by the test cartridges.

The instrument performs 38 FDA-cleared or exempt tests in the categories of chemistry, electrochemistry and coagulation. (The company anticipates adding immunochemistry tests early next year). Rounding out the Careside System(TM) are the Careside H-2000(TM), a desktop automatic, 16-or 18-parameter hematology analyzer; and the Careside Connect(TM), a universal data management system that links Careside technology to information management systems in physician offices, laboratories and hospitals.

Most information and processes to help physicians comply with CLIA regulations are provided by the Careside Analyzer. This includes testing documentation and sophisticated, embedded quality-control capabilities unique among POC testing devices. Reusable quality-control test cartridges lower QC costs and simplify quality control performance.

Careside Inc., located in Culver City, is the world's leading developer of advanced POC blood testing technology. The Careside Analyzer recently received top honors in the In Vitro Diagnostics category at the national Medical Design Excellence Awards competition.

For more information on the company, call 888/698-2273 or access www.Careside.com.

Safe Harbor: Statements in this press release regarding Careside, Inc. that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include future additions to the analyzer's test menu. Key factors that may affect these statements include technological hurdles and other challenges inherent in product research, development, manufacturing, marketing, and other factors discussed in the company's prospectus. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.