Response Biomedical Corporation Receives Funding From the Government of Canada to Support RAMP(R) Point-of-Care Platform

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 16, 2012) - Response Biomedical Corporation (TSX:RBM)(OTCBB:RPBIF) today announced that it has entered into a funding agreement with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) to support a project that Response believes will result in improvements to the Company's current RAMP Point of Care Assay Platform and potentially increase the Company's competitiveness in the marketplace. NRC-IRAP has agreed to provide up to $283,756 in funding to support this project for the period of July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

The aim of this project is to improve the customer experience with the RAMP^® Point-of-Care platform. Response Biomedical specializes in the development and manufacture of high-quality rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use on its proprietary RAMP^® platform technology.

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada, through funding and expert technical advisory services, allowing them to build their technology and innovation capabilities and commercialize innovative technologies and products.

Further information on the Company can be found at www.responsebio.com, SEDAR (Canada) www.sedar.com or EDGAR (U.S.) www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm. Information at these sites is typically available within 24 hours of the distribution of the news release.

About Response Biomedical

Response Biomedical develops, manufactures and markets rapid on-site diagnostic tests for use with its RAMP^® platform for clinical and environmental applications. RAMP^® represents a new paradigm in diagnostics that provides high sensitivity and reliable information in minutes. It is ideally suited to both point of care testing and laboratory use.

The RAMP^® system consists of a reader and single-use disposable test cartridges, and has the potential to be adapted to more than 250 medical and non-medical tests currently performed in laboratories. RAMP^® clinical tests are commercially available for the early detection of heart attack and congestive heart failure through our commercial partners and distributors.

In the non-clinical market, RAMP^® Tests are currently provided for the environmental detection of West Nile Virus, and Biodefense applications including the rapid on-site detection of anthrax, smallpox, ricin and botulinum toxin.

Response has achieved CE Marking for its readers and clinical tests and its Quality Management System is registered to ISO 13485: 2003 and ISO 9001: 2008.

Response Biomedical is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX under the trading symbol "RBM" and quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "RPBIF". For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.responsebio.com.

About the RAMP^® Reader and RAMP^® 200 reader

The RAMP^® enabling platform is a portable scanning fluorescence quantitative analysis platform for near patient testing that enables rapid and robust quantitative results. The platform includes easy software upgrades, data management capabilities and unique interface options. The RAMP^® Reader features a small footprint and attractive ease of use for moderate throughput settings. The RAMP^® 200 reader has innovative design features, including the multi-port capability to run 18 tests per hour on one module and up to 36 tests per hour, using three modules. This allows tests to be run on multiple patients simultaneously or multiple assays to be run for one patient. More information on our proprietary RAMP^® technology can be found at www.responsebio.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Response Biomedical Corporation. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding a project that the Company believes will result in improvements to the current RAMP Point of Care Assay Platform to potentially increase Response's competitiveness in the marketplace.

These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Actual events or results may differ materially. Many factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement, including the factors detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including but not limited to our annual report on Form 10-K, our Annual Information Form and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements.