ProPhase Labs Announces Opening of Large CLIA Lab Covid Testing Facility in Garden City, New York

- Total Company Processing Capacity On Track to Reach 60,000 Tests Per Day –

GARDEN CITY, NY, Jan. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProPhase Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRPH), a diversified medical science and technology company, announced today the opening of its 25,000 square foot facility in Garden City, New York. The new lab features state-of-the-art technology and offers a wide range of laboratory testing services for diagnosis, screening and evaluation of diseases, including COVID-19 and Respiratory Pathogen Panel Molecular tests.

The lab features the latest Thermo Fisher Scientific lab equipment and employs approximately 75 technical staff. The Company will add additional technical staff to meet client needs as the lab continues to ramp-up. The lab is already processing COVID-19 tests, and the Company plans to expand lab capacity to be able to process up to 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day by the end of the current fiscal quarter. The technology embedded in the new lab will enable the Company to offer highly competitive pricing to customers and to deliver test results, in most cases, within 24 hours. The lab also will be operating and processing tests seven days a week.

“We are exceptionally proud of our team’s rapid buildout of the new lab and successful onboarding of a world-class technical staff for the new facility. Our strategic rollout of CLIA Labs is proceeding exactly as planned,” said Ted Karkus, CEO of ProPhase Labs. “Our two labs, Garden City, New York and Old Bridge, New Jersey, working in tandem, are expected to enable us to process 60,000 tests per day. In addition to COVID-19 testing, we are looking to diversify into other areas of high margin diagnostic molecular testing,” explained Karkus.

ProPhase Diagnostics Update

ProPhase Diagnostics, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, which was formed to aggregate medical testing business opportunities for the Company, continues to expand its lab capabilities and testing capacity by expanding its physical presence to include the new Garden City, New York location and adding several key new hires to its team.

Steve Kamalic, Chief Operating Officer - ProPhase Diagnostics

Steve Kamalic is a veteran operations executive with decades of experience building and growing lab processing units. At ProPhase Diagnostics, Steve will be responsible for ensuring the company meets its stated goal of 60,000 tests per day between its Garden City, New York lab and Old Bridge, New Jersey lab. Prior to joining ProPhase Diagnostics, Steve served as Chief Operating Officer and Sales Director at a substantial regional lab. He oversaw a laboratory business that significantly grew its annual revenues. He has worked at several startups and has a vision for growth and expansion. Steve holds an AAS in medical technology and a BS in Health Administration.

Sergio Miralles, Chief Information Officer - ProPhase Diagnostics

Sergio Miralles is an experienced IT Leader, with over 12 years of experience in enterprise level Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, and Architecture. At ProPhase Diagnostics, Sergio will be responsible for ensuring a complete end-to-end technology solution that links its lab customers’ patient data via interface to efficiently process and report results. Previously, Miralles founded and led a successful IT consulting firm overseeing 18 IT consultants. For the last 5 years, his primary focus has been on the medical, lab, and diagnostics business. Sergio holds several certifications from Cisco, ISC2, and CompTIA.

Carlos D. Brewster, Head of Molecular Lab Testing - ProPhase Diagnostics

Carlos Brewster has over 18 years of experience in the Molecular Biology field, which started with an internship with the Federal Government in Washington DC. Carlos’ current responsibilities encompass assay design, validation, implementation and training. Prior to joining ProPhase Diagnostics, he served as a Research and Development Specialist. Since the onset of the pandemic he has received several FDA Emergency Use Authorizations for the COVID-19 Assay, which is now being utilized within the industry by numerous laboratories and has generated millions of dollars in revenue. Carlos holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He also holds a New York State License as a Clinical Laboratory Technologist.

Karkus added: “We are privileged to welcome these three experts in their respective fields to the ProPhase team. Steve has decades of experience building out lab processing, and his knowledge will be of great value as we continue our expansion efforts. Sergio will help us to bridge the gap between lab processing and the more difficult challenge of linking to customers via an interface to efficiently upload patient data and report results in a timely and efficient manner. Carlos was instrumental in the purchase, acquisition and installation of the latest Thermo Fisher equipment for our New Jersey lab and our new New York facility. Carlos’ focus will now be on helping us to expand our overall testing capacity and achieve our goal of hitting 60,000 tests per day. Together, the leadership team at ProPhase Diagnostics is coming together, and I have never been more confident in their ability to position us as a leading testing provider.”

About ProPhase Labs

ProPhase Labs (NASDAQ: PRPH) is a diversified medical science and technology company with deep experience with OTC consumer healthcare products and dietary supplements. The Company is engaged in the research, development, manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of OTC consumer healthcare products and dietary supplements in the United States. This includes the development and marketing of dietary supplements under the TK Supplements^® brand. The Company’s subsidiary, ProPhase Diagnostics, Inc. (“ProPhase Diagnostics”), offers COVID-19 and other Respiratory Pathogen Panel (RPP) Molecular tests. The Company also continues to actively pursue strategic investments and acquisition opportunities for other companies, technologies and products. For more information visit us at www.ProPhaseLabs.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, this document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our ability to ramp up lab testing capacity, our ability to provide competitive pricing and timely test results, our ability to attract customers for our testing services, and our staffing plans for the New York laboratory. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the scale, scope and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to attract and retain customer accounts, consumer demand for our lab processing services, the competitive environment, attracting and retaining qualified staff, challenges relating to entering into new business lines, our failure to obtain certain regulatory approvals, our ability to ramp up our lab’s testing capacity and execute on our business plan, our ability to obtain necessary equipment and raw materials, and the risk factors listed from time to time in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings. 

Investor Contact
Chris Tyson
Managing Director
MZ Group - MZ North America
949-491-8235
PRPH@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us

Released January 29, 2021