EXHIBIT 99.1

                                [ABAXIS LOGO]

                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

             ABAXIS ANNOUNCES ADOPTION OF STOCK PURCHASE RIGHTS PLAN

Union City, California - April 23, 2003-- ABAXIS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAX), a medical
products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, announced
today that its Board of Directors yesterday adopted a Stock Purchase Rights Plan
designed to enable all Abaxis shareholders to realize the full value of their
investment and to provide for fair and equal treatment for all Abaxis
shareholders in the event that an unsolicited attempt is made to acquire Abaxis.
The adoption of the Rights Plan is intended as a means to guard against any
potential use of takeover tactics designed to gain control of Abaxis without
paying all shareholders full and fair value. The distribution of the Rights is
not in response to any proposal to acquire Abaxis. The Board is not aware of any
such effort.

Under the Rights Plan, shareholders of record at the close of business on May 8,
2003 will receive one share purchase Right for each share of Abaxis Common Stock
held on that date. The Rights, which will initially trade with the Common Stock
and represent the right to purchase one one-thousandth of a share of the new
Preferred Stock at $24.00 per Right, become exercisable when a person or group
acquires 15% or more of Abaxis's Common Stock without prior Board approval. In
that event, the Rights permit Abaxis shareholders, other than the acquiror, to
purchase Abaxis Common Stock having a market value of twice the exercise price
of the Rights, in lieu of the Preferred Stock. Alternatively, when the Rights
become exercisable, the Board of Directors may authorize the issuance of one
share of Abaxis Common Stock in exchange for each Right that is then
exercisable. In addition, in the event of certain business combinations, the
Rights permit the purchase of the Common Stock of an acquiror at a 50% discount.
Rights held by the acquiror will become null and void in each case. Prior to a
person or group acquiring 15%, the Rights can be redeemed for $0.001 each by
action of the Board.

The Rights expire on April 22, 2013. The Rights distribution will not be taxable
to shareholders and will be payable to shareholders of record on May 8, 2003.

REMINDER OF QUARTERLY EARNINGS CALL

As previously announced, Abaxis will hold a conference call to discuss its
financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended March 31, 2003. The call
will be at 4:15 pm EDT (1:15 pm PDT) Thursday, April 24, 2003.

Participants can dial (719) 457-2645 or (800) 946-0719 to access the conference
call, or can listen via a live Internet web cast, which can be found at
www.abaxis.com. A replay of the call will be available by visiting
www.abaxis.com for 120 days thereafter or by calling (719) 457-0820, access code
314359, through April 26, 2003.

ABOUT ABAXIS

ABAXIS develops, manufactures and markets portable blood analysis systems for
use in any patient-care setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood
constituent measurements. The system consists of a compact, 6.9 kilogram,
portable analyzer and a series of 8-cm diameter single-use plastic disks, called
reagent discs that contain all the reagents necessary to perform a fixed menu of
tests. The system can be operated with minimal training and perform multiple
tests on whole blood using either venous or fingerstick samples. The system
provides test results in less than 14 minutes with the precision and accuracy
equivalent to a clinical laboratory. In addition to the blood chemistry analysis
system, the Company markets a hematology analysis system. The hematology system,
the VetScan HMT, is purchased from MELET SCHLOESING Laboratoires International
("MELET") through a cross OEM agreement. MELET markets the VetScan as the MScan
in certain European markets.

This press release includes statements that constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 (the "Reform Act"). ABAXIS claims the protection of the safe-harbor for
forward-looking statements contained in the Reform Act. These forward-looking
statements are often characterized by the terms "may", "believes", "projects",
"expects", or "anticipates", and do not reflect historical facts. Specific
forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not
limited to, risks and uncertainties related to the market acceptance of the
Company's products and the continuing development of its products, risks
associated with seeking approval of some of our products from the U.S.



Food and Drug   Administration,   risks associated with   manufacturing and
distributing its products on a commercial scale, risks associated with entering
the human diagnostic market on a larger scale, risks related to the protection
of the Company's intellectual property or claims of infringement of intellectual
property asserted by third parties, risks involved in carrying of inventory,
risks associated with the ability to attract, train and retain competent sales
personnel, general market conditions, competition and other risks detailed from
time to time in ABAXIS' periodic reports filed with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date
the statement was made. ABAXIS does not undertake and specifically disclaims any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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                                    CONTACT:

                                  ABAXIS, INC.
              Clint Severson, Chief Executive Officer, 510-675-6500

                            RCG CAPITAL MARKETS GROUP
                               Retail: Joe Dorame
                        Institutional/Analysts: Joe Diaz
                               Media: Jeff Stanlis
                                  480-675-0400