Chembio’s National HIV Testing Day message

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Today is National HIV Testing Day, a day when the National Association of People with AIDS asks at-risk individuals to get tested for HIV.

In honor of that, Medford-based Chembio Diagnostics, which makes HIV tests, has a very special message: We will sell a boatload of these tests.

The company, in a statement released today, said that it expects second quarter revenue of $2.2 million, a 34 percent jump compared to the same period last year.

Also, Chembio said roughly $3.7 million of the $4.4 million in sales it expects to register for the first half of fiscal 2007 came from its HIV tests.

From the statement:

Chembio expects approximately $3.7 of the $4.2 million in the first half of 2007 to consist of revenues from the sale of the Company’s HIV tests compared with $1.4 million of the $2.9 million in the first half of 2006, a 164% increase. This increase has been primarily driven by increased sales to the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) operating under the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), sales to Chembio’s distributor in Mexico, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in connection with a successful ongoing nationwide screening program in Mexico, and sales to Chembio’s U.S. marketing partner Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. for sales through Inverness’ distribution network which serves the public health, hospital, and physicians office market segments in the United States. The Company began shipments to Mexico in late 2006 and to the United States in the first quarter of 2007.