Olympus Signs Contract with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Melville, NY - The Diagnostic Systems Group of Olympus America Inc. announced that it was awarded a contract for twenty chemistry immuno systems for the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 1 Consolidated Laboratory. The five-year contract provides for in-vitro diagnostics instruments, service and consumable products for its fourteen facilities in the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Awarded after a public competitive bid process, the contract included input from VISN 1 members and is valued at approximately $6.5 million.

"We are pleased to provide Olympus analyzers to the Department of Veterans Affairs heath-care facilities," said Stephen Wasserman, group vice president, Diagnostic Systems Group of Olympus. "Our goal is to be the standard of choice for high quality, cost-effective chemistry testing for hospital and commercial laboratories. Currently, over one billion chemistry tests - or one out of four - are performed each year on Olympus equipment."

Under the agreement, which is effective immediately, Olympus will furnish its standardized, high-speed Olympus AU400TM and AU640TM chemistry immuno systems to fourteen designated network laboratories. Compatible standardization between the Olympus AU-Systems includes identical user-interfaces, standardized results, and reference ranges. These analyzers also use the same reagents, consumables and parts for the most cost-effective operation in the healthcare market today.

An advantage of Olympus standardized AU-Series analyzers is that they all share the same 122-test menu featuring general chemistries, special chemistries, urine chemistries, TDMs, DATs, and thyroid assays. Olympus convenient, bar-coded, ready-to-use stable-liquid reagents are manufactured at Olympus Diagnostica, an ISO 9001 registered site.

For additional information about the Olympus standardized product line, and other services, please call the Olympus Diagnostic Systems Group at 1-800-223-0125, or visit the Olympus web site at www.olympus.com.

About Olympus America Inc.

Olympus America Inc. distributes a wide range of products that leverage its core expertise in optics and digital information technology for the consumer, scientific, health care, commercial and industrial markets. These products include film and filmless cameras, microcassette and digital voice recorders, binoculars, film scanners, personal photo printers, medical and industrial endoscopes, biological and metallurgical microscopes and measuring instruments, clinical diagnostic analyzers, and high- technology products. Olympus America Inc. is responsible for sales, marketing, and distribution in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Located in Melville, N.Y., Olympus America is a subsidiary of Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. with worldwide revenues of $3.8 billion for the fiscal year 2000.

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