BioMed SA Recognizes Medical Innovator with New Palmaz Prize.

San Antonio Industry Group Reports First-Year Accomplishments

SAN ANTONIO -- Julio Palmaz, M.D., world-renowned inventor of the PALMAZ[R] Stent, today became the inaugural recipient and namesake of an industry award honoring innovation in healthcare and the biosciences.

The Julio Palmaz Prize for Innovation in Healthcare and the Biosciences was launched in San Antonio by BioMed SA, a non-profit corporation founded in 2005 to help promote and grow the city's thriving healthcare and bioscience sector.

The award honors individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to advances in these fields. Dr. Palmaz accepted the first award, named in his honor, at BioMed SA's Annual Meeting in San Antonio today.

Dr. Palmaz, who holds the Ashbel Smith Professorship at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is widely recognized for inventing the first commercially successful intravascular stent to open clogged arteries. The PALMAZ[R] Stent, which received FDA approval in the 1990s, revolutionized cardiac care. Doctors now place more than 2 million stents annually. IP Worldwide magazine ranked the stent as one of "10 Patents that Changed the World," and earlier this year Dr. Palmaz was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

"As a caring physician, dedicated researcher and successful entrepreneur, Dr. Palmaz embodies the qualities we seek to honor with this award," said Henry Cisneros, Chairman of BioMed SA and a former four-term mayor of San Antonio. "Dr. Palmaz's development of the stent illustrates the type of medical breakthroughs coming out of San Antonio's vibrant healthcare and bioscience community. We are proud to name this award in his honor."

Cisneros helped found BioMed SA in 2005 to organize and promote San Antonio's healthcare and bioscience sector, already one of the city's leading economic engines with an annual economic impact of more than $14 billion.

Among the organization's first-year achievements, BioMed SA:

* Secured approximately $500,000 in private and public funding for its first year of operation.

* Heightened the visibility of San Antonio's bioscience community during the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists annual conference, held in San Antonio earlier this month.

* Collaborated with other local organizations to bring the CEO of a biotech company from another region of the U.S. to San Antonio to consider relocation of the firm.

* Introduced an international research institute to a San Antonio-based research organization, resulting in the two groups exploring potential collaborations.

* Is actively involved in the ongoing local effort to secure location of the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility for San Antonio.

* Is co-chairing the Alamo WorkSource cluster initiative to create a pipeline of skilled workers for the city's healthcare and bioscience industry.