Immucor history

In March 1983, Immucor acquired its "solid phase" technology and patent rights from five researchers at the Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City.

1986 FDA approves proprietary blood test technology that radically reduces labor time and costs.

The firm continued to offer pioneering products in 1988 with the introduction of Capture-R, a test used to detect foreign antibodies in the red cells of donated blood.

In April 1991, the FDA granted Immucor approval to market Capture-CMV, a solid phase blood test for the detection of cytomegalovirus, a herpes virus, marking the company's first application of its proprietary technology to infectious disease testing.

However, by August 1995, Immucor stock had rebounded to $15.50, a 52-week high, on good year-end financial news and premature anticipation of the start of clinical trials for the company's automated blood-testing machine.

In October 1998, Immucor became the market leader in providing blood reagents and systems in the United States and Canada when it acquired Houston-based Gamma Biologicals, a company with 130 employees and annual revenues of $18 million.

Revenues for fiscal 2003 totaled a record $98.3 million and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspaper recognized Immucor as the second best performing company in Georgia for the year.

November 2004 brought bad news from abroad when Immucor announced that its CEO and President, Doctor Gioacchino De Chirico, and the company's Italian subsidiary, were subjects of a criminal investigation in Milan, Italy.

In June 2005, the company entered into a long-term agreement with Canadian Blood Services for the purchase of five Galileo instruments and the related reagents.