Boston, MA — September 19, 2005 — Covington Associates LLC announced today that it acted as the buy-side advisor to Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (AMEX: IMA) in its acquisition of the BioStar division of Thermo Electron, Inc. (NYSE:  TMO), an international rapid diagnostics company.  The transaction is valued at $52.5 million in cash.

BioStar, located in Louisville, Colorado, is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance rapid diagnostic tests, including tests for the detection of infectious diseases and brings with it one of the industry’s leading direct sales teams.  Inverness Medical Innovations, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a manufacturer and seller of consumer and professional diagnostic products focused on women’s health, cardiology and infectious disease.  The acquisition of Thermo BioStar gives Inverness several product lines complementary to its own, and expands the Company’s depth in the rapid diagnostic testing market space.  Going forward, BioStar will become part of Inverness’ new Point of Care portfolio.

About Covington Associates LLC

Covington Associates is a specialty investment banking firm founded in 1991 serving business service, consumer, industrial, healthcare and technology companies throughout the country.  Focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising, debt and equity restructuring, and strategic advisory assignments for middle market companies, Covington Associates has completed transactions ranging in value from $10 million to over $1 billion for both private and publicly traded companies.  To learn more about Covington Associates, visit www.covingtonassociates.com.