Microbix Achieves New QAPs Sales Record

Over C$ 1 Million in Orders from Leading Diagnostics Industry Test-Maker

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Sept. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQX: MBXBF, Microbix), a life sciences innovator, manufacturer, and exporter, announces that it has secured record purchase orders (“P.Os.”) for over one million Canadian Dollars (“C$ 1 Million”) of its quality assessment products (“QAPs”) from a leading global maker of infectious disease diagnostic tests, QuidelOrtho Corporation (“QuidelOrtho”) – for its largest set of QAPs P.Os. to date.

The P.Os. are for Microbix QAPs formatted onto Copan FLOQSwabs to support the use of point-of-care-tests (“POCTs”) for multiple infectious diseases and disease categories. The QAPs will be supplied to QuidelOrtho for two applications, (i) inclusion into kits/boxes of test consumables at a fixed ratio on a “white-label” basis and (ii) as Microbix-branded “ONBOARDx” kits for verification, validation, and training at new instrument-user installations. When included in kits/boxes, test-users should use a test-cartridge and the QAP every time a new box is opened – to verify operator competency, cartridge and reagent function, and instrument operation as an integral part of the POCTs’ quality management system.

The P.Os. are targeted for delivery principally in the fourth quarter of calendar 2023. This set of P.Os. is nearly equivalent to a full quarter’s worth QAPs sales from 2022 and is indicative of Microbix beginning to realize its targeted sales growth for this segment. The unit number of QAPs supplied under the P.Os. is in the tens of thousands and Microbix expects ongoing sales to QuidelOrtho, with which it executed a Purchase and Supply Agreement on August 10, 2022.

Management believes this order substantiates diagnostics industry trends that are beneficial to Microbix and its QAPs business. Specifically, that (i) there is a growing volume of POCT sales, (ii) Diagnostics makers must integrate test controls (QAPs) with their POCTs for quality management and regulatory compliance, and (iii) safe, reliable, room-temperature stable, and FLOQSwab-formatted QAPs are the optimal in-kit controls for POCTs. These trends relate to both antigen and molecular test formats, as do the P.Os.