SAN DIEGO, March, 21, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- CardioDynamics (Nasdaq:CDIC), the innovator and global leader in Impedance Cardiography (ICG) technology, today announced an agreement with Medtronic, Inc., (NYSE:MDT), the world's leading medical technology company. The companies have signed an agreement to evaluate the clinical utility of CardioDynamics' proprietary ICG technology in optimizing the programming of Medtronic's implantable devices for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), and the potential integration of the BioZ(r) ICG Module with Medtronic instrumentation. During the term of the agreement, the companies agree to share ownership of unique intellectual property developed through the collaboration for biventricular pacing applications.
"It is an exciting time in healthcare when innovators of breakthrough technologies can combine talents and efforts to develop new solutions that will improve care and quality of life. This first-of-its-kind collaboration with Medtronic has the potential to change the standard of care for pacemaker patients and open yet another door for our technology's contribution to healthcare," stated Michael K. Perry, Chief Executive Officer of CardioDynamics. "Through our partnership strategy, we are working with some of the best research and product development teams in the medical industry. We are very pleased to join forces with the global leader specializing in pacemaker technology to explore the use of our ICG capability with their products."
Heart failure (HF) affects 22.5 million people worldwide. CRT is a new treatment for heart failure that uses an implantable device (biventricular pacemakers) to improve the pumping efficiency of the heart. Pacemaker programmers enable physicians to evaluate and vary pacemaker settings. Prior to BioZ ICG technology, physicians were limited to using Echocardiography (Echo) to ensure objective, optimal settings. The challenges with Echo include expense, time, and dependency on a highly trained technician.
In recent studies from leading medical facilities, BioZ's ICG technology has been shown to be as effective and less costly than the widely used Echo technique in the optimization of pacemakers in heart failure and cardiac patients. ICG is valuable in pacemaker applications because it identifies pacemaker settings that produce the optimum cardiac output to meet the body's demands.
About CardioDynamics:
CardioDynamics (Nasdaq:CDIC), the ICG Company, is the innovator and global leader of breakthrough medical technology called Impedance Cardiography (ICG). The Company's primary products, the BioZ(r) Systems, are being used by leading physicians around the world to help battle the number one killer of men and women -- cardiovascular disease. Partners include GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, Spacelabs Medical Systems, and Vasomedical. The worldwide market potential for BioZ products is estimated to be $5 billion and an additional $800 million in recurring annual revenue for disposables. For additional information or to request an investor package, please refer to the company's Web site at www.cdic.com.
Forward-Looking (Safe Harbor) Statement:
Note: Except for the historical and factual information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to uncertainties and risks, which include sole dependence on the BioZ product line, and various uncertainties characteristic of companies just emerging from the development stage; as well as other risks detailed in the company's filings with the SEC, including its 2001 Form 10-K. The company does not undertake to update the disclosures contained in this press release.