Acquisition

RNS Number:0997I
Osmetech PLC
28 February 2003

                   Osmetech plc ("Osmetech" or "the Company")

            Sale and purchase agreement signed for OPTI product line

Further to the announcement on 31 January 2003 Osmetech, the developer of
medical diagnostics devices, has now signed a sale and purchase agreement to
acquire the assets of the Atlanta-based point of care 'OPTI' product line of
blood gas analysers owned by Swiss healthcare company Roche Diagnostics
("Roche"). The net consideration will be approximately $2.5 million and the
acquisition is expected to complete on 31 March 2003.

On completion, Osmetech will pay $3.5 million, subject to adjustment for final
inventory levels, over a 12-month period. On completion, Roche will invest $1
million in Osmetech by way of a subscription for 21,821,422 ordinary shares at
approximately 2.8 pence per share. This represents 4.4% of the current issued
ordinary share capital.

James White, Chief Executive of Osmetech said,

"This acquisition will bring Osmetech a number of significant strategic and
financial advantages:


  * "OPTI has an established product range of portable instruments for
    blood-gas, electrolyte and metabolite analysis. Over 4,000 instruments have
    been sold in the US and internationally, predominantly in ER and cardiac
    settings, where Osmetech is looking to sell its integrated vaginal infection
    product.

  * "It provides immediate sales income. Revenues in the first 12 months from
    the date of acquisition are estimated, by the Directors, to be in excess of
    $7 million, with over half occurring from ongoing repeat sales of
    proprietary re-agents for the existing installed base of instruments.

  * "We bring on board an experienced team led by Alfred Marek, the pioneer of
    the business, with a track record of successfully driving products from
    development through to revenue.

  * "The business has under development an exciting new handheld device, which
    Roche has taken an option to sell and distribute when it comes to market in
    2005/6.

  * "Monthly cash-burn will be significantly reduced across the business, due
    to the cash-generative capabilities of the OPTI business and the
    opportunities for product development and other operating synergies

  * "This acquisition also brings forward both the Group's cash generation and
    profitability timescales."

                                      Ends

Enquiries:

Osmetech plc
James White, Chief Executive          01270 216 444



Bell Pottinger Financial
Matthew Moth                          020 7861 3882
Charles Reynolds                      020 7861 3871



Notes to Editors:

Osmetech plc

  * Osmetech's strategy is to build a healthcare diagnostics business in the
    fast growing near patient testing and point of care markets.

  * Osmetech's e-nose technology is based around an array of conducting
    polymer sensors that are designed to detect ("sniff") the volatile
    components emitted by bacteria as they metabolise. The sensors can therefore
    screen patient samples and test for the presence of infection-causing
    bacteria.

  * The Company, which is based in Crewe, is currently focusing its e-nose IP
    development on sensors that can detect bacteria associated with a number of
    healthcare applications in the near patient and point of care testing
    markets.

  * On 22 November 2001, Osmetech announced that it had received FDA approval
    for its UTI sensor product. This was the first time the FDA had approved
    e-nose technology for use in the healthcare diagnostic industry.

  * On 29 January 2003, Osmetech announced that it had received FDA approval
    for its bacterial vaginosis (BV) sensor device. This sensor is now being
    incorporated into a new integrated point of care device for diagnosing and
    differentiating between the most prevalent and clinically important vaginal
    infections, including chlamydia and gonorrhea.

The OPTI Business


  * The OPTI business is focused on portable instruments incorporating optical
    sensors for blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite analysis. These are
    primarily set in the emergency room and cardiac monitoring hospital
    settings. Roche will retain its other higher throughput hospital laboratory
    blood gas analysis products of the well established OMNI-line based on
    electrochemical sensor technology, which are produced in Graz, Austria.

  * The OPTI business has established market positions throughout the world
    with an existing customer base of over 4,000 instruments already in use,
    with approximately one-third in the US. Revenue is generated through sales
    of new instruments and ongoing repeat sales of proprietary reagents to
    facilitate analysis.

  * An experienced team of about 50 employees under the management of Alfred
    Marek, who pioneered this business, will be transferred to Osmetech.

  * Osmetech will continue the development of a new hand-held blood gas
    analyser, which will have significant technological and commercial
    advantages over other products available for point of care blood gas
    analysis. Roche has retained an option to sell and distribute the finalised
    product.

  * Roche purchased the blood gas analyser business based in Atlanta, US and
    Graz, Austria from AVL in 2000. The product range consisted of the OPTI
    product line of portable, point of care devices and the OMNI range of
    bench-top/laboratory devices.

  * The OPTI product range first came to the US healthcare market in 1995,
    although AVL had been a leading competitor in the blood gas analyser
    industry since 1967. The clinical setting for these devices tends to be
    smaller hospitals and in the emergency room.

  * The OPTI analysers utilise a sensor technology based on optical
    fluorescence sensors and the process of optical reflectance. The major
    advantages of this technology are its reliability and stability, which makes
    the technology superior to electrochemical based systems.

  * The OPTI product range will continue to be developed and manufactured from
    the current facility in Atlanta, Georgia in the US.

  * A market survey of 584 larger hospitals in the USA conducted by Enterprise
    Analysis Corporation (EAC) in 2001 concluded that point-of-care blood gas
    testing is growing, with 50 per cent of hospitals using a point-of-care
    device, up from 34 per cent in 1999. Blood gas devices were used throughout
    hospitals. Operating suites and ICU were the most common locations, but the
    emergency room, general wards, cardiac catherization laboratory and even
    outpatient departments were using the devices. EAC concludes that strong
    growth will continue, with more than 60 hospitals from the sample
    considering adding blood-gas point-of-care testing within a year.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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