bioMérieux signs Clinton Foundation initiative on HIV

Marcy l'Etoile, France - January 14, 2004.

bioMerieux, is a major player in the field of in vitro infectious disease diagnostics. Founded in 1963 in France, the company designs, develops, manufactures and markets reagents and automated instruments for medical analyses. Today,more than 82 % of our sales are made on an international level, especially in the United States, Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

bioMérieux’s mission is to play a major role in the fight against infectious disease in clinical biology by:

• providing the entire public health community with reliable integrated solutions,
• reinforcing the rapidity and accuracy of medical decisions in a global environment of health care cost control.

Inspired by Louis Pasteur, the Mérieux family and bioMérieux through its Foundations historically have always been involved in the improvement of healthcare worldwide. For instance, in 1974, they went into action in the interest of public health, when they took on the devastating meningitis epidemic that was sweeping brazil. In record time, they managed to produce and ship enough doses to vaccinate the entire Brazilian population.

Today, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) poses a similar major threat to the health and economic welfare of millions of people throughout the world.

In 2003, the Clinton Foundation contacted us to present their ambitious HIV/AIDS initiative. Alain Mérieux, President of bioMérieux, immediately felt that bioMérieux’s experience and expertise in HIV viral load testing could play a constructive role in the Clinton Foundation initiative. Moreover, the Clinton Foundation agreement is in line with the activities of the Mérieux foundation carried out in countries like Haïti, Cambodia and Mali.

We apologize for not being able to present this statement in person but we will do our utmost best to contribute to the accomplishment and challenging Clinton Foundation HIV / AIDS initiative.

“The obligation to generate profits to secure the future of our companies finds its true value in the way these profits enable us to provide assistance to those without the resources to access healthcare.”
Alain Mérieux