TUCSON, Arizona, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
(Nasdaq: VMSI) - today announced that it has reached an agreement with DAKO
A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark that will terminate DAKO's rights to distribute
Ventana's TechMate(TM) instruments and ChemMate line of consumables in Europe
and select other countries on or before December 31, 1999.
    Ventana inherited an exclusive distribution agreement with DAKO for Europe
and select other countries for its TechMate and ChemMate(TM) products when it
acquired BioTek Solutions, Inc. in February of 1996.  Ventana has always sold
its Ventana line of immunohistochemistry (IHC) stainers, the ES(R) and
NexES(R), and consumables through its own direct sales organizations in major
markets and distributor networks in the rest of the world.
    "This agreement enables us to consolidate, over time, sales of our
complete product line through our own direct organizations in Europe and
Japan, and distribution network in the rest of the world,"  commented Hank
Pietraszek, Ventana's president and chief executive officer.  "It will bring
our international distribution approach into line with the United States where
our sales force handles the complete Ventana and TechMate product lines.  We
regard this as a very positive move, as our customers outside the United
States are now offered a number of our products by a different, and in most
cases, competing sales organization."
    Mr. Pietraszek also noted:  "We anticipate that the termination of our
distribution agreement with DAKO will, over time, increase our sales by
capturing the distribution margin and the fact that DAKO currently sells some
of its own reagents on TechMate instruments."
    Under the terms of its agreement, Ventana will acquire rights to sell the
TechMate and ChemMate product lines by December 31, 1999.  Effective
immediately Ventana is no longer obligated to ship additional TechMate
instruments to DAKO.  DAKO will continue to pay Ventana royalties on all
TechMate 500 instruments for a period of five years from the date of customer
installation.  The agreement also resolved a number of other disputed issues
between the parties including a pricing dispute over TechMate 250 instruments
which was in arbitration.
    Safe Harbor Statement:  Statements in this press release which are not
strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements that are made pursuant to
the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995.  Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may
cause the company's actual results in the future to differ materially from
expected results. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the results of
the Company's business are described in the company's specific filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
    Ventana develops, manufactures and markets proprietary instrument/reagent
systems that automate immunohistochemistry ("IHC") and in situ hybridization
("ISH") tests for the analysis of cells and tissues on microscope slides.
These tests are important tools used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
    For more information on Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. via facsimile at no
additional cost, simply dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter the company code 273

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