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Trinity Biotech Announces Agreement With the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI)

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 May 2007, 12:00 CDT

Trinity Biotech plc (NASDAQ: TRIB) (DUBLIN: TRIB), a leading developer and manufacturer of diagnostic products for the point-of-care and clinical laboratory markets, today announced an agreement with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) in connection with its work on behalf of the International Drug Purchase Facility (UNITAID) established by the governments of Brazil, France, Chile, Norway and the United Kingdom. UNITAID is a newly established funding mechanism to accelerate access to high-quality drugs and diagnostics for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in countries with a high burden of disease.

Under the agreement, Trinity Biotech will immediately begin offering its Uni-Gold and Capillus rapid HIV test kits at a discounted price to UNITAID-eligible countries, together with members of CHAI's Procurement Consortium, which is a coalition of more than 60 developing countries around the world.

Ira Magaziner, the Chairman of CHAI, commented on the agreement saying that: "We face a global HIV/AIDS emergency. More than 90% of the 40 million people living with HIV in the world, including 2-3 million children under the age of 15, do not know that they are HIV-infected. And with 5 million new infections each year (one person every 6 seconds), increasing use of rapid HIV tests is and must be a vital component of our global HIV/AIDS prevention strategy. In order to reach treatment targets, developing countries need to run at least 200 million HIV tests in the next four years. That is why our ability to scale up the use of highly accurate and efficient rapid HIV testing is a first line defense. As such, we are pleased to work with Trinity and commend them for helping to make Uni-Gold and Capillus available to members of our Procurement Consortium and UNITAID countries."

Commenting on the agreement, Brendan Farrell, President of Trinity Biotech, said: "We are delighted to work with the Clinton Foundation in conjunction with its work for UNITAID. We believe there are synergies between our demonstrated ability to supply large volume, highly accurate, rapid HIV test kits and the goals of both President Clinton's Foundation and UNITAID. We look forward to assisting both organizations as they support countries across much of the developing world in their scale-up of HIV rapid testing initiatives."

Since 2002, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative has been assisting countries in implementing large-scale, integrated care and treatment programs. It partners with 25 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. Individual governments take the lead and the Foundation provides technical assistance, mobilizes human and financial resources, and facilitates the sharing of best practices across projects. The Foundation also provides access to reduced prices for HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostics to more than 60 countries.

UNITAID was officially launched on 19 September 2006 in New York on the occasion of the Opening Session of the United Nations General Assembly by France's President Jacques Chirac, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Chile's Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley Rioseco, Great Britain's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of International Development Gareth Thomas, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the African Union's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and the former U.S. President, Bill Clinton. The mission of UNITAID is to scale up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the poor in developing countries by lowering the price of drugs and diagnostics and accelerating the pace at which they are made available.

Trinity Biotech develops, acquires, manufactures and markets over 500 diagnostic products for the point-of-care and clinical laboratory segments of the diagnostic market. The broad line of test kits is used to detect infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, blood coagulation disorders, and autoimmune diseases. Trinity Biotech sells worldwide in over 80 countries through its own sales force and a network of international distributors and strategic partners. For further information please see the Company's website: www.trinitybiotech.com.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the results of research and development efforts, the effect of regulation by the United States Food and Drug Administration and other agencies, the impact of competitive products, product development commercialization and technological difficulties, and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 Contact:  Trinity Biotech plc Brendan Farrell + 353 1 276 9800 E-mail: Contact via http://www.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=E9250D680F28EBF6  Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) New York Office +1 212 348 0360  

SOURCE: Trinity Biotech plc

Source: MARKET WIRE

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