Adams Regulatory News (ADA)

28 Feb 2005 07:00

DawMed Systems PLC28 February 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 28 FEBRUARY 2005 DAWMED SYSTEMS PLC ("DawMed" or "the Company") 'CLINIC' MARKETING UPDATE 'CLINIC' BENCH TOP WASHER-DISINFECTOR-DRYER INTRODUCED TO US$74 BILLION MIDDLE EAST HEALTHCARE MARKET According to published results by the UK Department of Health relating toSecondary Healthcare hospital decontamination services for surgical instrumentsin the NHS, more effective decontamination was identified as a key component toachieve higher quality surgical care, and a programme to bring such services upto the required standard was completed last year. According to the NationalAudit Office, it has been estimated that some 5,000 people currently die eachyear from hospital-acquired infections. The Board of DawMed, the medical devices company which designs, manufactures,sells and services washer-disinfector-dryers ("WDD") used by NHS Trusthospitals, private hospitals and clinics, reports the noticeably high level ofinterest in its unique and innovative 'Clinic' - a key driver in the Company'slong term growth strategy - which was exhibited by the Company last week at theArab Health Exhibition, the Middle East's largest healthcare exhibition, inDubai. The Clinic WDD is designed for use in the Primary Healthcare sector (i.e.doctors, dentists, endodontists, clinicians, et al) as well as for certaindepartments of Secondary Healthcare hospitals. DawMed has successfullyincorporated all the technology of its large WDD equipment by miniaturisationinto a machine size comparable with bench top sterilisers, which proliferatethroughout the Primary Healthcare sector worldwide. The Clinic fits perfectly into the existing surgical instrument decontaminationprocess by replacing manual and/or ultrasonic cleaning procedures in favour of afully automatic procedure which is also fully compliant with UK guidelines andimminent European standards. It features a 'Watchdog' microprocessor controlsystem that will detect and alarm under fault conditions. Now, in its 30th year, the Arab Health Exhibition is the largest healthcareevent in the Middle East and one of the most important in the world today. Withthe Middle East healthcare market valued at US$74 billion annually, the eventhas been attracting more and more exhibitors and visitors each year. In 2004, atotal of 1,422 exhibitors from 50 countries, including 25 national countrypavilions displayed their healthcare products and services to over 30,000visitors. The visitors included over 4,400 dealers and distributors. Whilst there are estimated to be around 40,000 bench top sterilisers in use inPrimary Healthcare in the UK, the vast majority of these are currently notaccompanied by a WDD, but should be. Instead, technicians and nurses typicallywash and dry surgical instruments manually before placing them in sterilisers,thereby risking cross-infection of themselves as well as patients and alsocompromising the desired effect of sterilisation. DawMed's management believesthat the Clinic has a number of unique features and functional advantages overcompetitors' products. These include: • Double door option: An important facility that is unique to the Clinicenables the "pass through" principle to be operated. As a result the unit can beinstalled through a partition or wall, thus creating a physical barrier betweenthe clean and the dirty sides of the partition or between the clean and dirtyrooms - a technique always employed by hospital Sterile Service Departments orCentral Decontamination Units to avoid confusion as to which instruments areclean and which are dirty. The double door option also constitutes a fail-safefeature whereby if one door is open, the other is locked; • Accurate dosing and performance monitoring: An important facility thatensures that the precise amount of detergent is used with each wash - if theright quantity is not used (for example if the container is damaged), then theoperator will be warned that the process has deliberately failed on thefail-safe principle. The system will also monitor and deliberately fail-safe ifimportant problems occur, for example incorrect length of process, incorrecttemperature attainment and incorrect pump pressure; • Forced air drying: An important facility that is unique to the Clinic andwhich enables immediate transfer of the surgical instruments into thesteriliser. It is not possible to sterilise a surgical instrument if it is wetand the use of towels for drying is highly likely to re-contaminate it; and • Standards compliance: DawMed's management believes the Clinic is the onlybench top WDD in the world which is fully compliant with the current UKguidelines (HTM 2030) and imminent European/UK standards (pr/EN 15883 Parts 1and 2). DawMed has invested heavily in the bespoke design and development of its Clinicproduct range, and has already received two SMART awards for productdevelopment; the Company intends to continue to focus on marketing the Clinic tofurther its application to affinity markets. Commenting on the Clinic and its potential market, Kevin Gilmore, ExecutiveChairman, said: "The project for the development of Clinic started four years ago, aftermanagement predicted that NHS would extend the UK and imminent Europeanstandards of decontamination of surgical instruments, which already applied toSecondary Healthcare hospitals, to the Primary Healthcare sector. The NHS havenow done so, effective from February 2005. "The Clinic is small, fast and easy to use. Its size is comparable with benchtop sterilisers and it is currently being supplied to the Primary Healthcaremarket and other emerging niche markets. "The wider market for the Clinic, which is now open to exploitation by DawMed,includes the whole of the European Common Market (larger than the USA at some350 million people) as well as the USA, the growing economies of Asia, India andChina and, eventually, the rest of the world." Commenting on the Exhibition and the likely sources of cross infection, JohnCrispin, Managing Director, said: "Exhibiting the Clinic at the Arab Health Exhibition was a logical step in ourmarketing programme. DawMed's directors believe that the Clinic is the mostadvanced bench top washer-disinfector-dryer in today's worldwide market place,and we look to the future of the product with confidence. "Although there is no reliable information available as to the number, severityor consequences of cross infections arising from surgical procedures carried outin Primary Healthcare, there can be no doubt that the greatest number, and thegreatest increase in numbers of such procedures, take place in PrimaryHealthcare. It may therefore be reasonably argued that a major risk of crossinfections through surgical procedures originates in Primary Healthcare. " ---ends--- Enquiries: DawMed Systems plc Tel: 01789 450075 Kevin Gilmore, Executive Chairman Beaumont Cornish limited Tel: 020 7628 3396Roland Cornish Bishopsgate Communications Limited Tel: 020 7430 1600Maxine Barnes, Dominic Barretto For further information about DawMed please visit our website at www.dawmed.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange