SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stretton Scientific Limited, a privately held distributor of scientific diagnostic, measuring and monitoring equipment based in Stretton, England. Stretton Scientific currently distributes Cepheid's SmartCycler(R) System, among other diagnostic and life science products, to a broad group of medical customers including the National Health Service (NHS), medical universities and commercial customers.

"Consistent with Cepheid's strategy to invest in sales and marketing capabilities to support national market development, the acquisition of Stretton Scientific is expected to augment our newly established UK-based direct sales team," said John Bishop, Cepheid's Chief Executive Officer. "With our industry-leading GeneXpert(TM) System, Cepheid is committed to supporting the UK's efforts to minimize negative patient outcomes and reduce financial costs associated with HAIs, and we are very pleased to be building out our infrastructure to support this rapidly expanding opportunity."

Under the terms of the agreement, Cepheid will pay approximately 1.2 million pounds Sterling in cash to acquire Stretton Scientific. The transaction is expected to close in early November, 2008, subject to customary closing conditions, and it is not expected to have a material impact on Cepheid's 2008 fourth quarter results.

About Cepheid

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) is an on-demand molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets fully-integrated systems for genetic analysis in the clinical, industrial and biothreat markets. The company's systems enable rapid, sophisticated genetic testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases by automating otherwise complex manual laboratory procedures. The company's easy-to-use systems integrate a number of complicated and time-intensive steps, including sample preparation, DNA amplification and detection, which enable the analysis of complex biological samples in its proprietary test cartridges. Through its strong molecular biology capabilities, the company is focusing on those applications where rapid molecular testing is particularly important, such as identifying infectious disease and cancer in the clinical market; food, agricultural, and environmental testing in the industrial market; and identifying bio-terrorism agents in the biothreat market. See http://www.cepheid.com for more information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are not purely historical regarding Cepheid's or its management's intentions, beliefs, expectations and strategies for the future, including those relating to the financial impact of the proposed acquisition, the benefits of the proposed acquisition, including future market size and growth in Cepheid's U.K. business. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the company's current expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as those relating to: our ability to successfully integrate operations; our ability to successfully obtain regulatory approvals for additional products and to introduce new products in the clinical market; risks related to expanded international operations; customer market acceptance of new products; the failure of products to perform as expected, whether due to manufacturing errors, defects or otherwise; the ability of Cepheid to retain and motivate key employees of the acquired company; incurrence of unexpected liabilities in connection with the acquisition; competition; potentially lengthy sales cycles in some markets; reimbursement rates for the products; and the impact of general economic conditions worldwide. Readers should also refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Cepheid's Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2007 and in its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, each filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date of this press release, based on information currently available to Cepheid, and Cepheid assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reasons why results might differ.

     CONTACTS:
     For Media Inquiries:                   For Investor Inquiries:
     Jared Tipton                           Jacquie Ross
     Cepheid Corporate Communications       Cepheid Investor Relations
     408-400-8377                           408-400-8329
     jared.tipton@cepheid.com               jacquie.ross@cepheid.com

SOURCE Cepheid