Amidex Applies for World's First Breath Aerosol Collector Patent; Non-Invasive Breath Aerosol Collector Shows Promise for Identifying Respiratory and Heart Disease.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2003

Amidex, Inc., a medical technology company, today announced it has filed a patent application for the world's first breath aerosol collection system.

Research on breath aerosol, the non-gaseous material in exhaled breath, shows great promise in helping to identify heart, respiratory and other types of disease.

The new patent application lists a variety of methods and devices that directly collect exhaled breath aerosol, or EBA(TM). Prior methods and products have exclusively used condensation of water vapor from exhaled breath in attempts to develop practical clinical detection methods. However, condensation only indirectly and very irregularly captures aerosol particles. Our research and that of other investigators shows that analytical variations are far too high to support clinical applications.

In contrast to condensation methods, the Amidex collection system directly acts upon aerosol particles and also virtually eliminates condensation. As a result, the company believes that the aerosol specimen is substantially complete and undiluted, making it possible to obtain reproducible measurements.

"Our research demonstrates that this new method of collection and detection are more than 100,000 times more efficient than condensation collectors, and 1,000 times more efficient than the bacterial and viral filters used with medical ventilators," said Mark Paz M.D., the company's founder and CEO. "The large majority of breath aerosol particles are much smaller than the smallest measurement used to measure filter efficiency. Our device collects essentially all the aerosol that completely escapes other devices. The finest particles captured by our collectors are about the same size as the smallest known viruses, or about one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. We collect virtually all of these important nano-particles."

Once the patent is granted, Amidex will bring a commercial version of its aerosol collection system, called the AeroDx(TM), to market. The company expects researchers to use AeroDx to characterize new markers useful in disease detection and management.

"The new Amidex technology is very exciting for research on lung and airway disease," says Dr. Philip Silkoff, Associate Professor and Clinical Scientist at the National Jewish Medical Research Center in Denver. "It could help the medical community devise new screening, diagnostic and monitoring methods that are quick and easy for the patient, and very accurate. The new Amidex technology looks like a vital step toward making this possible."

Utilizing the AeroDx, the company is also developing a system for rapid detection and monitoring of cardiac ischemia -- the state of cardiac muscle oxygen deprivation that leads to a heart attack. The Amilyser(R) will combine the new breath aerosol collector with a rapid analyzer to detect the presence of adenosine, a biochemical released from an ischemic heart muscle. The company received an earlier patent in 1996 that broadly covers the use of adenosine in exhaled breath as a specific marker for cardiac ischemia.

Dr. Paz concludes: "In addition to the clear value for lung disease, Amidex' technology also will enable rapid identification and monitoring of cardiac and other diseases. Beyond medical applications, the ability to collect even the smallest viruses has obvious implications for bio-defense. Until now, aerosol filters and collector characterization has used a lower particle size limit that is only as small as the largest viruses. Most viruses are far smaller than this limit. With the growing concern of viruses as weapons, our super-efficient collection technology could play a significant role in viral and bacterial bio-weapons detection."

About Amidex

Amidex, Inc. is a privately held company that develops innovative technologies for diagnosing, monitoring and evaluation of disease and resulting medical therapy by means of minimally invasive methods. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.amidexmedical.com.

Amidex(TM), AeroDx(TM), EBA(TM), and Amilyser(R) are trademarks of Amidex Inc.