WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Sept. 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Viking Systems, Inc. (OTCBB:VKNG), a leading worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of 3D and 2D visualization solutions for complex minimally invasive surgery, today announced changes to its alliances for selling its 3DHD Vision Systems in USA. The Company announced the following:
- The Company's has entered into a distribution agreement with EndoResolution LLC to sell the Company's 3DHD Vision Systems in 14 Midwestern states plus Colorado, Arizona, Southern California and Hawaii. The Company's previous distributor for various Midwestern States, Surgioscopy Inc, has joined forces with EndoResolution and will continue to be an important part of the sales effort in portions of this territory.
- The Company has entered into agreements with three independent sales representatives to sell the 3DHD Vision System within individual territories covering New England, Upstate New York, New York City, Long Island, Georgia and South Carolina. The three principals of these three firms have over 50 years combined experience selling surgical vision systems.
- The Company has restructured its distribution agreement with American Surgical, reducing the territory covered by American Surgical to Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
- The company no longer has a distribution relationship with Cunningham and Woodland, previously the Company's 3DHD distributor in various Northeastern states.
EndoResolution was formed recently by several experienced healthcare executives solely for the purpose of distributing Viking's 3DHD Vision System. Warren Pelissier, President of ACOM Healthcare and a Partner in EndoResolution said, "We performed extensive diligence and are convinced that Viking Systems' 3DHD Vision System is an exciting breakthrough technology with the potential to change the standard of care in performing complex minimally invasive surgical procedures. We see a substantial market opportunity and believe our team's experience in bringing surgical products to market will accelerate the market awareness and adoption of the technology."
Jed Kennedy, Viking Systems' President and CEO said, "We believe the changes made to our US distribution will greatly improve our ability to drive market adoption of our 3DHD Vision System in the United States. Adding quality partners like EndoResolution with its experienced management team provides critical sales support needed in selling high-end hospital capital equipment to complement Surgioscopy's clinical work. We are very excited to have EndoResolution on board and look forward to working with them. We believe they can quickly build upon the successful groundwork put in place by Surgioscopy over the last nine months and accelerate closing the various deals currently in-process in that territory. Additionally, EndoResolution brings key contacts and customer access in several new states for us."
Kennedy continued, "At the same time, we are equally enthused about our newly-formed relationships with three seasoned independent sales representatives who bring with them long established hospital and surgeon relationships in their respective territories and who will be selling the product on a commission basis."
Kennedy concluded, "We now have 30 sales professionals presenting the Viking 3DHD Vision System, covering most major markets in the US with ten demo systems available for clinical demonstrations to interested surgeons and hospitals. By year end we expect the number of sales professionals representing our product in the US to be approximately 50 with 20 demo systems available to them."
About Viking Systems, Inc.
Viking Systems, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of 3D and 2D visualization solutions for complex minimally invasive surgery. It actively markets and sells the only stand alone, FDA cleared, cost-effective 3D system for use in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Viking partners with medical device companies and healthcare facilities to provide surgeons with proprietary visualization systems enabling minimally invasive surgical procedures, which reduce patient trauma and recovery time. Viking, through its OEM products business, also designs and manufactures surgical vision systems and components for several leading medical instrument companies worldwide. For more information, please visit our website at www.vikingsystems.com.
About EndoResolution, LLC.
EndoResolution, LLC is a company formed to completely address the needs of institutions, surgeons and patients alike. The company is committed to bring the most advanced surgical solutions to the market with equally advanced financial solutions to ensure that patients who could benefit from advanced technology are not prevented due to institutional capital constraints. The company is managed by a group of seasoned healthcare professionals from both the sales/marketing as well as the institutional/financial experience to develop and institute product solutions with financial choices that work. Each territory manager is trained in both the product solutions and the supporting financial solutions to address all key constituents concerns. EndoResolution believes this model provides access to technology from which patients and surgeons can greatly benefit.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the best judgment of our management and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors as described in our annual report on Form 10-K under the heading "Risk Factors" as updated from time to time by our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements concerning forecasts, revenue growth, profitability, production and shipment of units, future financial results, and statements using words such as "estimate", "project", "plan", "intend", "expect", "anticipate", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.