Atherotech Announces Completion of $4 Million Private Placement.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BW HealthWire)--May 30, 2001

Atherotech, Inc., a leading medical diagnostic company, today announced the successful completion of a private offering of $4 million of Series C Preferred Stock at $3.50 per share, which will pay dividends of 8.5 percent per year, cumulative.

The proceeds from the offering will be used to continue to fund the company's marketing efforts for its next-generation Vertical Auto Profile (VAP(TM)) Cholesterol Test, as well as to expand capacity in anticipation of higher demand.

This Series C Preferred Stock offering represents the company's third round of financing. In total, Atherotech has raised $9.5 million to fund its growth.

Roseanne Varner, Atherotech president and chief executive officer, said, "This offering represents another milestone accomplished within our financial plan. We continue to strengthen our financial position through a disciplined approach to accessing the capital markets. Adding this round of preferred stock to our capital structure allows us greater financial flexibility with limited dilution to our current shareholders."

Venture capital participants in the Series C round included Technology Funding Group of San Mateo, Calif.; Compass Venture Partners of Menlo Park, Calif.; The J.F. Shea Company of Walnut, Calif.; and Needham Capital Partners of New York.

"We are very excited about the acceptance and roll-out of the VAP Cholesterol Test," Varner said. "We believe this funding demonstrates the investment community's understanding of the positive implications of the VAP Test, which can improve the physician's ability to predict the risk of a person developing cardiovascular disease from about 40 percent with routine cholesterol panels to more than 90 percent. The VAP Test is covered by most insurance carriers and is priced comparably to the traditional test, further positioning it for widespread adoption."

The breakthrough VAP Cholesterol Test is a replacement for the routine lipid panel. The VAP Test meets the new National Institutes of Health Cholesterol guidelines for adults, and increases risk detection for other cardiovascular diseases such as stroke. It measures cholesterol levels more precisely than other tests and also measures important lipoprotein subclasses that may represent increased heart disease risk not identified with routine lipid testing, including hereditary risk factors. The test requires just five drops of blood, which can be obtained via a finger-stick, and results are available in 72 hours.

Atherotech, a leading medical diagnostic company and specialty reference laboratory based in Birmingham, is dedicated to improving the early diagnosis of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases that kill nearly 1 million people each year. The company's proprietary technology, the VAP Test, is an expanded cholesterol test that identifies twice the number of people at risk for heart disease and provides physicians with a powerful new tool to create individualized treatment plans. All tests are processed at Atherotech's state-of-the-art laboratory in Birmingham.

For more information, call 800/719-9807 or visit the company's Web site at www.atherotech.com.