The year 2000 was one of mixed emotions for me. It was a gratifying time for DPC with record sales and increased market share in the highly competitive automated immunoassay systems business. It was also a time of great personal loss: my father, Sigi Ziering, who had run the Company for the past 27 years, succumbed to cancer in November. His vision and guidance over the past three decades made the company what it is today. In place is a management team that I believe will continue to chart a course of growth, innovation and return for DPC employees, customers and shareholders.

Last year was the Company's twenty-ninth consecutive year of sales expansion. The biggest story was the enthusiastic customer acceptance of the IMMULITE^® 2000 system. The year saw 478 IMMULITE 2000 instrument placements, bringing the total number of customer units to over 1,100. In addition, the demand for the original IMMULITE® instrument continues to be strong. In 2000, DPC placed a total of 561 systems, bringing the total number of systems shipped since the 1993 IMMULITE launch to over 4800. These numbers reflect the confidence of more and more labs in DPC's ability to support their immunoassay testing needs.

In the US, the IMMULITE 2000 became the instrument of choice for a number of key regional reference labs. Consumption of routine, high-volume immunoassays contributed to the significant expansion of DPC's reference lab business. In the hospital market, DPC succeeded, both through a joint marketing alliance with Dade Behring and by our individual efforts, in being added to or awarded a number of group purchasing agreements. This is significant because, in compliant group purchasing organizations (GPOs), a supplier must be on contract in order to place high-volume systems such as the IMMULITE 2000. Under the comarketing and distribution alliance with Dade Behring, DPC supports the immunoassay needs of the contracts with IMMULITE products, while Dade Behring addresses the clinical chemistry requirements. By the end of 2000, DPC had signed agreements with Novation, HPG, and Consorta. We anticipate serving an increasing number of US hospitals in 2001 through the Dade Behring partnership. Additionally, DPC entered into agreements with Shared Healthcare Services and JP last year. DPC now serves all market segments in the US, with the IMMULITE 2000 addressing the needs of the high-volume laboratories, and the IMMULITE with its broad menu filling the needs of lower volume facilities.

Internationally, the Company's sales and market share expanded within all of its affiliated European distributorships and most of its other key international markets, despite the negative effect of the strong dollar. Customer response was particularly notable in areas served by some of DPC's smaller distributors. In South Africa and Israel, for example, the IMMULITE business increased in each country by over 100 percent. In Romania, DPC placed 36 systems in November upon being awarded a government contract.

Driven as we are to keep supply capabilities ahead of demand and to enhance customer service worldwide, we have recently implemented facilities improvements at the Los Angeles headquarters. We have expanded manufacturing space; remodeled and enlarged the research labs; and are installing new business software, which will increase the efficiency of planning, manufacturing and tracking. The same commitment is evident in the groundbreaking for a new manufacturing site for DPC Cirrus in New Jersey, and in the renovation and improvement of the dispatch and assembly area at the EURO/DPC manufacturing facility in North Wales.

We are gratified by the growing customer demand for the IMMULITE systems. We strive always to add value to the IMMULITE family of immunoassay analyzers and to address new markets by increasing our product offerings. Accordingly, we added three new tests to the IMMULITE menu, bringing the total number of tests available to 98*; and 15 new tests were added to the IMMULITE 2000 menu, for a total of 63*. Homocysteine, a marker that aids in the assessment of cardiac risk, was a key product release. DPC is the first manufacturer to make fully automated, random access testing for this marker possible. In addition, our menu of infectious disease assays, which currently includes tests for the ToRCH agents and for hepatitis B, is rapidly expanding. The launch of allergy testing on the IMMULITE 2000, anticipated in the middle of 2001, holds the promise of simplifying allergy testing, which has traditionally been a specialized "send-out" test. Once available, it will permit a lab to run specific allergy tests along with other, routine immunoassays on the same instrument.

Development of the next generation IMMULITE instrument is the focus of intense R&D activity in Los Angeles and New Jersey. Release of the new system is targeted for 2004.

In December, DPC announced the appointment of Robert DiTullio to the position of Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems. Robert's previous position was Vice President of Regulatory for DPC Cirrus. He has been very influential in acquiring and maintaining ISO certification for all of DPC's manufacturing facilities. Four other Vice Presidents have been appointed in Los Angeles: Chris Goss, Vice President, Business Operations; Mark Grossi, Vice President, Manufacturing; Joe Kelly, Vice President, US Sales; and Dennis Sustarsic, Ph.D., Vice President, Research. All were promoted internally and bring added depth to management.

The events of 2000 were made possible by the hard work and devotion of over 1,700 DPC employees worldwide, the trust of our customers, and the confidence of our shareholders. I would like to say thank you to all for your support.

* Most of these assays have received FDA clearance for marketing in the US. Customers in the US should consult their DPC sales representative on questions about assay availability.