Abbott To Unveil New ARCHITECT® ci4100™ Integrated Immunoassay and Clinical Chemistry System

When Available in the U.S., ARCHITECT® ci4100™ Will Complete the ARCHITECT Family of Products, Providing Improved Productivity for Low-Volume-Testing Laboratories

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) will preview the new ARCHITECT® ci4100™ Integrated System at the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting this week. The ci4100™ is an automated diagnostic analyzer that integrates immunoassay and clinical chemistry testing. Expected to be available in the United States by mid-2009, subject to regulatory approvals, the ci4100 will expand Abbott’s family of integrated systems, offering low-volume-testing laboratories and clinics increased productivity and performance.

As low-volume facilities continue to seek efficiency-enhancing solutions, the ci4100 is designed to deliver improved productivity by providing a large capacity of up to 85 onboard reagents and 180 samples that can be continuously loaded and unloaded during the testing process. The ci4100 also will effectively integrate clinical chemistry and immunoassay testing with an expansive test menu, while maintaining quick and consistent immediate turnaround times during both peak and off-peak hours. This helps low to mid-volume facilities meet the demands of increasing workloads and clinical requirements. The ci4100 can generate up to 800 clinical chemistry and 100 immunoassay tests per hour.

When available in the United States, the ci4100 will complete the ARCHITECT family of analyzers. The ARCHITECT system integrates two highly successful ARCHITECT instruments: the i1000SR immunoassay analyzer and the c4000 clinical chemistry system, which was developed with Abbott’s partner, Toshiba. Because the ci4100 is based on Abbott’s existing ARCHITECT ci8200 and ci16200 integrated platforms, it shares common hardware, software and reagents. Upon regulatory approval, Abbott will be the only company offering high, medium and low-volume integrated solutions leveraging the same software, reagents and sample carriers.

The AACC Annual Meeting is a global meeting that attracts nearly 20,000 attendees from more than 100 countries. The ci4100 is on display in Abbott’s AACC exhibit booth (No. 1507).