ChemTrak enters home HIV testing market with acquisition of Coonan Clinical Laboratories.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 1994--ChemTrak Inc. (NASDAQ:CMTR) Thursday announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Coonan Clinical Laboratories Inc. ("CCL"), a private company located in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The closing is subject to certain conditions and is expected to occur within 30 days. CCL is in the third year of developing a home HIV-1 blood collection kit and is in the final stages of preparing a Pre-Market Approval application for submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA").

The acquisition involves payment by ChemTrak to CCL of a maximum of 400,000 newly issued shares of ChemTrak common stock.

"This is an important transaction for ChemTrak because it advances our corporate strategy to be a leader in the OTC (over-the-counter) testing market, and potentially expands our product offering to include home access HIV testing," said Prithipal Singh, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of ChemTrak. "Following FDA clearance, we intend to market this product ourselves."

Stephen J. Coonan, CCL's founder and president, will join ChemTrak as a vice president and president of the CCL subsidiary. CCL operations will be moved to ChemTrak's Sunnyvale facility.

According to the 1992 National Health Interview Survey, with data weighted to the U.S. population, 4% of adult Americans, or approximately 7.3 million people, have had risk behaviors for HIV infection. An estimated 18% of U.S. adults have been tested for HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS. Of the estimated 1 million Americans living with HIV, about 30% - 60% have been tested.

Approximately 25 million HIV tests are performed each year in the U.S. according to a March 1994 estimate by the Centers for Disease Control.

"Confidentiality and convenience of home access HIV testing combined with accuracy and counseling are of primary concern to ChemTrak," added Dr. Singh.

The CCL home access collection kit tests for HIV-1 antibodies and will not require physician participation or a prescription. Unlike a conventional home test such as a pregnancy or total cholesterol self-test, the home access test includes testing as well as counseling and referral to local care.

The CCL HIV test calls for a user to prick a finger with a lancet, allow two drops of blood to be absorbed by a special paper with a unique identification number, and mail the specimen in a postage pre-paid mailer to the company where the blood is tested using standard laboratory screening and confirmatory testing methodology (i.e., ELISA test with Western blot confirmation). About a week after mailing the specimen, the user calls the company's counseling center's toll-free number and, after providing the identification number, receives counseling, a test result and, if the result is positive, referral to local care.

ChemTrak anticipates recording in its fiscal fourth quarter, ending Dec. 31, 1994, a non-cash charge for the acquisition of in-process research development of approximately $1.4 million associated with the CCL transaction.

ChemTrak develops and manufactures easy-to-use, disposable tests to screen, monitor and diagnose health conditions with accuracy comparable to physician office and laboratory tests. The company markets its products to the OTC and professional markets worldwide primarily through corporate alliances with established healthcare and consumer products companies. ChemTrak's patented, noninstrumented, palm-size AccuMeter cassette system is an enabling technology expected to be applicable to a broad range of general chemistry and immunoassay tests.

CONTACT: ChemTrak Inc., Sunnyvale

              Bruce Voss, 408/773-8156
              Robert E. Collins, 408/773-8156