2003: A Year in Review
[Key Product Releases Enhance Laboratory Solutions]

DPC has just completed another landmark year in our ongoing efforts to provide you, our customers, with the highest quality products and services in the industry. We also moved ahead with implementation of corporate plans to enhance our ability to serve our expanding customer base. I am pleased to report here on these significant accomplishments.

On the instrument side, we released the Sample Management System (SMS). The SMS allows an operator to load up to 200 tests at one time, saving valuable labor. We will soon launch the next generation of the SMS with the ability to connect to two of our larger IMMULITE^® systems. Customers with multiple instruments will be able to link two of them with an SMS, which will give the operator the ability to process up to 400 tests at one time, maximizing the throughput on each instrument. We will also introduce the IMMULITE 2500 immunoassay system that will have all of the strengths of the IMMULITE 2000 with the additional ability of random access Logic Driven Incubation. This means that customers will be able to get rapid results on certain STAT assays where time-to-first-result is crucial. We are currently in beta-site testing on the instrument, as the work of adapting IMMULITE 2000 tests for the IMMULITE 2500 proceeds. Meanwhile, we have already developed the first breadboard of the next-generation IMMULITE system, which we are targeting for release in 2006.

On the software side, our Instrument Systems Division released the DPC RealTime Solutions (RTS) software package. We are clearly unique as the first company to offer such a service on an immunoassay analyzer. This software enables DPC to monitor certain critical functions of the IMMULITE 2000 whenever the instrument is operating. If a problem occurs, a message is transmitted to our customer service facility in New Jersey and we are able to take proactive action, thereby improving productivity for the laboratory. By the end of 2003, we had close to 100 instruments linked to our RTS package in the US, and in December, we released RTS internationally. We are now developing the next-generation RTS package that will give customers the ability to perform multiple QC functions including peer-group analysis, adjustment reports, target range reports and summary reports-for a broader range of QC-reporting capabilities. In addition, RTS will enable customers to manage QC from any Internet-enabled computer over a secure website as well as view QC data from all instruments from the same lab. The ability to monitor the instruments continuously off site, as well as the additional benefits that the QC package offers, is yet another way that we are distinguishing ourselves from our competitors.

Perhaps the most important DPC distinction is the menu of tests that we provide our customers on our IMMULITE family of instruments. With over 75 tests on the IMMULITE 2000 and 100 on the IMMULITE 1000, we offer customers the largest test menu available. During 2003 and the first half of 2004, a great deal of effort was focused on converting tests to run on the IMMULITE 2500. This year, we are also working on a number of automated tests in the autoimmune area, including what will be the first automated ANA screening test. Additionally, we will continue to expand our infectious disease menu—an area of significant growth.

Among the major corporate developments was the purchase of a building in Los Angeles that will serve as our new corporate headquarters and the home for Administration, R&D and Marketing. We hope to be moved into our brand new facility two miles south of our current location sometime this summer. We will keep our current Los Angeles facility for manufacturing and shipping. At that time we will be operating out of 330,000 sq ft in Los Angeles as opposed to the current 200,000 sq ft. We are also in the construction phase in North Wales, adding approximately 30,000 sq ft of space to handle our continued growth in the UK.

While expanding in terms of bricks and mortar, we have also successfully completed the second phase of our JD Edwards ERP installation in Los Angeles, as well as our first phase in North Wales. The next portion of the project is the software implementation in New Jersey, which we are beginning. When this is completed, we will have all three major manufacturing sites on JDE software. This should better enable us to manage the continued growth we have been experiencing.

We reached a milestone in 2003 by exceeding the $100 million mark in US sales for the first time, and our domestic business grew by more than 19 percent. We continued to expand our strong international base by securing a distribution agreement in Vietnam. The support of our valued customers, the efforts of our loyal independent distributors and the Company's progress on multiple fronts—all of this makes me optimistic that DPC will continue to be a leader in providing our customers with the highest quality immunoassay reagents, instruments, and service and support in the industry. More than 2200 DPC employees worldwide are dedicated to this philosophy.