[February 28, 2013]

Diaxonhit solidifies its position as a major player in the field of transplantation

Regulatory News:

Diaxonhit (Paris:ALEHT), the leading French provider of specialty diagnostic solutions, announces the award to its marketing affiliate, InGen, of four national public tenders from the French Blood Bank (EFS). They involve supplying the EFS with tests necessary to perform HLA⁽¹⁾ typing and monitoring in the field of transplantation. These tenders cover the next four years, and represent potential revenues of up to € 13.8 million by the end of 2016.

"HLA tests represent a major activity of Diaxonhit, and the selection of our commercial subsidiary InGen by EFS, a recognized institution and a key player in transplantation in France, reflects the quality of our offering and strengthens our position in this specialty. Within the newly formed group, our strategy includes developing our activities in the broader context of transplantation and immunology," said Loïc Maurel, CEO of Diaxonhit.

Transplantation in France

The field of transplantation covers activities related to organ (kidney, heart, lung, etc...) and bone marrow transplantion (treatment of leukemia, hematological diseases, etc...). In 2011, 4,954 transplants were carried out in France, with an additional 16,371 patients awaiting transplantation ⁽²⁾. This number increases by about 4% per year ⁽³⁾. Management of volunteer donors and recipients is performed by the French Biomedicine Agency that maintains corresponding centralized national registries.

Transplant rejection: transplantation primary risk

On the surface of their own cells, every individual possesses a set of markers called HLA that enable the immune system to distinguish self from non-self (foreign bodies) and to not reject the latter. All of these markers and corresponding genes constitute the individual HLA system. During transplantation, if donor and recipient HLA's are not compatible, the recipient's immune system will reject transplanted cells by destroying them. Rejection is therefore the main transplantation risk, the rate of acute rejection at one year after transplant ranging between 5% (kidney) and 50% (lung) ⁽³⁾.

Typing and monitoring tests: critical contribution to transplantation risk reduction

In order to assess compatibility between donors and recipients before transplantation, and to reduce the risk o rejection, HLA analyses are routinely performed using serology or molecular biology. Monitoring of transplant patients and monitoring of rejections are also performed by measuring the presence of anti-HLA antibodies and monitoring them in recipients before and after transplantation. Post-transplantation monitoring is used to adjust immunosuppressive treatments whose side effects can be significant. All these tests are performed in the HLA laboratories of blood transfusion centers (18 centers in France) or histocompatibility (Immunology) laboratories of university hospitals (20 laboratories in France and associated territories).

Diaxonhit: leader in France for tests related to transplantation

The supply of organ typing and anti-HLA antibody monitoring tests to blood centers grouped under the umbrella of the EFS is part of the renewed tenders that will benefit InGen. In addition, InGen was also selected by the EFS for supplying tests and related equipment for intermediate resolution molecular typing of volunteer bone marrow donors.

Diaxonhit is currently the leading supplier of HLA laboratories, with over 70% market share in the French territory. Its partner is One Lambda (USA), the world leader for HLA tests and part of Thermo Fisher Scientific since mid-2012.

(1) Human Leucocyte Antigen

(2) Source (News - Alert) : French Biomedicine Agency, www.dondorganes.fr/016-les-chiffres-cles

(3) Source : Inserm, www.inserm.fr/thematiques/sante-publique/dossiers-d-information/transplantation-d-organes

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About Diaxonhit

Diaxonhit (NYSE Alternext, FR0004054427, ALEHT) is a French fully integrated leader in the in-vitro diagnostic field, involved from research to commercialization of specialty diagnostic products.

With many partnerships and a strong presence in hospitals, Diaxonhit has an extensive commercialization network. Through its affiliate, InGen, it commercializes and services, mostly under exclusivity agreements, in-vitro diagnostic kits and advanced equipment. It operates mainly in the fields of transplantation, infectious diseases and autoimmunity, product quality control and rapid tests, including Tetanus Quick Stick ®, a proprietary product.

The group also owns a diversified portfolio of products in development, including both innovative molecular and non-molecular diagnostics, covering three main specialty areas: immuno-infection, Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Diaxonhit headquarters are located in Paris and its affiliate in the Paris region. The Group is listed on NYSE Alternext in Paris and is part of the NYSE Alternext OSEO innovation index.

For more information, please visit: http://www.diaxonhit.com.

Disclaimer

This press release contains elements that are not historical facts including, without limitation, certain statements about future expectations and other forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated.

In addition, Exonhit, its shareholders, and its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties in relation to, statistical data or predictions contained in this press release that were taken or derived from third party sources or industry publications, and such statistical data and predictions are used in this press release for information purposes only.

Finally, this press release may be drafted in the French and English languages. In an event of differences between the texts, the French language version shall prevail.

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