Calypte Adds Taiwan ROC Distributor Wednesday June 25, 9:01 am ET Enfield Medical Co. Ltd. Expands Calypte's Asian Coverage
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 2003--Calypte Biomedical Corporation (OTCBB:CYPT - News), the developer and marketer of the only two FDA approved HIV-1 antibody tests for use with urine samples, announced that it has appointed Enfield Medical Co. Ltd. as its exclusive distributor for Taiwan. ADVERTISEMENT Enfield is a Taipei-based company, acknowledged as one of the top ten medical product importers in the country. Enfield Medical was founded in 1988, and actively markets a number of premium global brands of healthcare products. Enfield is a subsidiary of Excelsior Healthcare Group whose alliances include hospitals, IT services, logistic and inventory management, performance improvement and E-commerce.
"With the appointment of Enfield, we have successfully, and meaningfully expanded our Asian presence," said Tony Cataldo, Calypte's Executive Chairman.
Richard VanMaanen, Director of International Business Development at Calypte, stated, "As with all of Calypte's urine HIV distribution agreements, Enfield's rights are exclusive within its territory, and Enfield has specific obligations regarding minimum purchases during the agreement. We are eager to work with Enfield in obtaining all of the requisite registrations, and to promoting safer and more patient-friendly approaches to HIV testing for their country."
Jack Chen, CEO and Chairman of Enfield, said, "We have been providing state of art medical products to Taiwan for 25 years, and Calypte's products will meet people's prevention needs here in Taiwan."
Statistics released in November 2002 by the Taiwanese Department of Health estimated a cumulative total of approximately 4,500 HIV cases -- a 16% increase over the previous year. Roughly three quarters of the new infections occurred in young people aged between 20 and 39 years. In response to the statistics, the Department of Health has targeted 2006 as the year in which Taiwan must achieve a zero growth rate in new infections.
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