SYSMEX CORPORATION

  Sysmex Corporation (HQ: Kobe, Japan; President: Hisashi Ietsugu) will establish Sysmex South Africa, a fully owned subsidiary in the Republic of South Africa, one of the post-BRICs*, which is our second base in Africa. The purpose of this subsidiary is to provide enhanced support for local distributors and customers in the southeastern part of Africa. Sysmex South Africa will contribute to enhancement of medical services for HIV/AIDS, which is growing increasingly severe throughout Africa, including activities to introduce a new, safe and easy measurement of CD4-positive cell** counts in peripheral blood, which is useful for formulating a medical treatment plan.

  Large parts of Africa, a continent home to approximately 800 million people (approximately 13% of world population), are known to have a pressing need to improve what are currently very inadequate medical and hygienic environments.
  We have been expanding and enhancing our sales and service network since appointing our first distributor in South Africa in the 1980s; the current network, including local distributors in some 40 countries, now covers virtually all of Africa. In 2001, through establishment of the “Sysmex Africa Service Center”, our customer support center located in the Republic of Benin, we conducted local-friendly activities such as training local distributors and customers and technical support for emergencies.

  In order to more promptly respond to the customers’ needs for service and support, we will establish Sysmex South Africa in the Republic of South Africa.
  The Republic of South Africa is a member of the Post-BRIC countries, with a particularly high growth potential. Needs in the in vitro diagnostics field are increasing, as clearly evidenced by the increasing rate of upgrade to high-performance systems in the urban areas and by the increasing number of first-time purchases of new compact systems in rural areas.
  With the Republic of South Africa as its base of operations, Sysmex South Africa will provide enhanced service and support, mainly for local distributors and customers in the southeastern part of Africa. The subsidiary will be equipped with marketing and distribution facilities in the future.
  Also, in order to contribute to the medical treatment of HIV/AIDS, the most serious concern for countries throughout Africa, we will propose introduction of a new technology that combines pocH-100i, our compact automated hematology analyzer, with a measurement kit available on the market. The new system is capable of safely and easily assessing the progress of the disease, and will expand our drug administration and monitoring business.

  By accelerating local marketing of our Japan- and world-renowned products and sales and service system, we will endeavor to expand our share in the market. We will push forward with aggressive efforts to respond to each customer’s medical needs, thereby contributing to the overall quality of medical care.

*Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all experiencing remarkable development even among developing nations, are called “BRICs.” Recently, the term “BRICS” has been used to refer to these four countries plus South Africa.

**CD4-positive cells measurement, which provides indicators useful for formulating a medical treatment plan, usually uses a laser-employing FCM (flow cytometer) for detection. However, because of the high prices of the analyzers and of specialized reagents, the FCM has only been introduced into large-scale hospitals in developing countries, including Africa. Since this method uses an analysis kit available on the market along with our compact hematology analyzer, which employs electric resistance for detection, the measurement is easier than one that uses an optical system.