bioMerieux Opens South African Subsidiary

MARCY L'ETOILE, France--(Business Wire)--Regulatory News:

bioMerieux (Paris:BIM), a world leader in the field of in vitro
diagnostics, announced today the opening of a subsidiary in South
Africa. Based in Johannesburg, the new subsidiary will provide support
to all of Sub-Saharan Africa. bioMerieux's 36th subsidiary is another
milestone in the company's international expansion.

This move highlights the strategic importance of South Africa for
bioMerieux. The company's diagnostics solutions have been sold there
by an exclusive distribution partner, Omnimed, since 2001. The Omnimed
in vitro diagnostics team will be integrated into the new subsidiary
and the two companies will continue to work closely together.

"With an historic commitment to the fight against infectious
diseases, it is only natural for bioMerieux to reinforce our presence
in South Africa. We are very proud to have been entrusted with all of
the country's HIV viral load monitoring and will continue to provide
molecular diagnostics and other advanced solutions to meet the
region's healthcare challenges," stated Stephane Bancel, bioMerieux
Chief Executive Officer.

bioMerieux is also reinforcing its South African presence through
partnerships with local research centers. The company will extend its
customer training activities (over 1,500 trainees a year) to South
Africa, investing in skills development programs for health workers,
laboratory technicians and biologists. A leader in microbiology
testing techniques in South Africa, protecting patients from
healthcare-associated infections will also be an area of focus for
bioMerieux.

Furthermore, bioMerieux is building a global alliance with other
companies to improve disease management for AIDS patients in South
Africa. bioMerieux has been committed to the fight against HIV for
over 20 years and was the first company to propose a test to monitor
HIV viral load in real-time.

About bioMerieux

Advancing Diagnostics to Improve Public Health

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for over 40
years, bioMerieux is present in more than 150 countries through 35
subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2006, revenues
reached EUR 1.037 billion with 83% of sales outside of France.

bioMerieux provides diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments,
software), which determine the source of disease and contamination to
improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Our products are
used for diagnosing infectious diseases and providing high medical
value results for cardiovascular emergencies and cancer screening and
monitoring. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in
agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. bioMerieux is listed
on Eurolist by Euronext. For more information, visit
www.biomerieux.com.

bioMerieux Contacts
Investor Relations
bioMerieux
Herve Laurent
Tel: + 33 4 78 87 22 37
investor.relations@eu.biomerieux.com
or
LT Value
Nancy Levain
Tel: + 33 1 44 50 39 30
nancy.levain@ltvalue.com
or
Media Relations
bioMerieux
Koren Wolman-Tardy
Tel: + 33 4 78 87 20 08
media@eu.biomerieux.com
or
Image Sept
Laurence Heilbronn
Tel: + 33 1 53 70 74 64
lheilbronn@image7.fr
or
Tiphaine Hecketsweiler
Tel: + 33 1 53 70 74 59
thecketsweiler@image7.fr

Copyright Business Wire 2007