DAMON <DMN> LAB UNIT RIDES HIGH ON AIDS TESTING
Damon Corp's Damon Clinical
Laboratories expects to report "significantly better" profits
this year and a 20 pct gain in sales due in part to increased
testing for AIDS virus, Damon president Joe Isola said.
     Last year the unit earned 8.6 mln dlrs on sales of 97.3
mln for the fiscal year ended August 31, 1986. Overall, Damon
Corp reported a loss of 2.5 mln dlrs on sales of 148 mln.
     Isola attributed the loss to the company's biotechnology
subsidiary.
     Damon Labs currently tests about 8,000 samples a night for
the AIDS virus at its Irving, Texas, facility. That's an
increase of about 100 percent from 18 months ago when the U.S.
Army chose the company to test for Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome among its recruits.
     Now, in addition to recruits, the company processes
regular Army soldiers undergoing annual physicals, Army
Reserves, the National Guard as well as some Coast Guard and
Naval Reserves.
     Despite having a capacity for processing 10,000 samples a
day, Damon Labs recently decided to move out of its Irving
facility into a larger one close by and from April 25 on will
be able to process some 16,000 a day.
     He said AIDS testing was expected to contribute 18 mln
dlrs to sales over the next three to four years, adding that
some 80 pct of the AIDS testing was military-related.
     Despite the enormous number of tests being processed each
day, he said there had never been a mistake.
 Reuter
