Meridian Announces Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE) Office in Beijing, China

CINCINNATI, July 20, 2017 -- Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) today announced the opening of Meridian Bioscience Beijing, LLC, its wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in Beijing, China. Meridian opened a representative office (RO) in Beijing in 2015, and now this office has been transitioned to a WFOE to better serve its Chinese customers. The office is located on Chang-An Avenue (close to Tiananmen Square and government offices) in the New China Life Insurance (NCI) Tower Center, in the heart of the central business district (CBD) of Beijing.

Over the years, Meridian has established strategic relationships with the top in vitro diagnostic companies in China by providing high quality antigens, antibodies, blockers, and PCR amplification enzymes to the Chinese IVD market. Many of Meridian’s biologicals are used in the manufacturing of high volume Chinese FDA approved assays in China. Meridian’s commitment to and support of IVD customers in China will be greatly enhanced with this improved local representation. Through the WFOE; Meridian now has a local sales, marketing and distribution function for research and IVD customers in China. This will enable our employees in China to further increase opportunities with existing customers and help to attract new customers in the expanding Chinese market. The ability to maintain inventory in China, will expedite the selling process by making the sampling of our products faster and more convenient.

Lourdes Weltzien, Ph.D., Vice President and General Manager of Meridian Life Science, Inc. and President of Asia Pacific Markets, stated, “We are excited to transition our representative office to a WFOE in Beijing and bring enhanced local support to our customers in China. We continue to demonstrate Meridian’s increased commitment to our Chinese customers by expanding local resources to better service their needs for high quality life science products. Our business in China continues to grow rapidly and we are committed to continued investments in such an important market.”

Richard L. Eberly, President, Chief Commercial Officer, commented, “China represents one of our higher growth geographies within the Asia-Pacific region for our life science products. Over the last three (3) years our revenues in China have grown cumulatively by over 400%. The establishment of the WFOE reflects our continued investment in and commitment to Chinese research and IVD customers.”

About Meridian Bioscience, Inc. 
Meridian is a fully integrated life science company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic test kits, rare reagents, specialty biologicals and components. Utilizing a variety of methods, our diagnostic tests provide accuracy, simplicity and speed in the early diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions, such as infections and lead poisoning. Meridian’s diagnostic products are used outside of the human body and require little or no special equipment. The Company's diagnostic products are designed to enhance patient well-being while reducing the total outcome costs of health care. Meridian has strong market positions in the areas of gastrointestinal and upper respiratory infections and blood lead level testing. In addition, Meridian is a supplier of rare reagents, specialty biologicals and components used by organizations in the life science and agribio industries engaged in research and by companies as components in the manufacture of diagnostics. The Company markets its products and technologies to hospitals, reference laboratories, research centers, diagnostics manufacturers and agribio companies in more than 70 countries around the world. The Company’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, symbol VIVO. Meridian's website address is www.meridianbioscience.com.

CONTACT:
Richard L. Eberly
President, Chief Commercial Officer
Meridian Bioscience, Inc. 
Phone: 513.271.3700
[email protected]