Complements DeRoyal Suction Canister System Line: DeRoyal Acquires Waterstone Medical, Inc., Producer of Medical Waste Fluid Products.

Business Editors, Health/Medical Writers

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2002

DeRoyal announces the acquisition of the assets of the Waterstone Medical, Inc., a healthcare fluid waste treatment and disposal company based in Falls Church, Va., effective November 13, 2002.

Waterstone Medical's products include existing waste fluid management products. The existing products are: Omni-Jug(R), a large volume 16-liter disposable suction canister, the largest available for surgical use; the Aqua-Box(R), a wall-mounted waste fluid evacuation system; the Drain Jug(R), a disposable 15-liter gravity-fed receptacle; and the Puddle Guppy(TM), a floor fluid aspirator with a detachable handle.

Steve Ward, DeRoyal's president and COO, said, "The Waterstone acquisition is the perfect fit to complement DeRoyal's existing disposable suction and solidifier products without redundancy. The Waterstone line bolsters DeRoyal's by adding large volume canisters and other fluid waste products to become one of the widest fluid waste management lines in the industry.

With increased efforts by the EPA and the AHA to reduce medical waste, and OSHA's requirements on fluid waste management, hospitals are in need of quick, flexible, and simple solutions for fluid medical waste. This acquisition allows DeRoyal to better equip its customers to meet these challenges all through one vendor with consistent product quality."

The 16-liter disposable suction canister, Omni-Jug(R), is an established healthcare industry leader that reduces the number of canister changes during surgical cases with heavy fluid irrigation. Designed to fit in standard OR ring stands, the product reduces canister changes and chances for contaminating spills during a procedure. Omni-Jugs(R) are capable of collecting fluid waste from up to four devices simultaneously. Easily transported to a safe disposal site, they can be emptied via the Aqua-Box in 45 seconds, or siphoned in 90 seconds.

The Aqua-Box(R) is a stand-alone unit designed to evacuate the contents of filled suction canisters. An EPA-approved disinfectant is added to the waste fluid and Aqua-Box(R) then automatically drains the waste fluid into the facility's waste water system. Measuring 14-inches by 16-inches, the wall-mounted unit runs independently of a facility's vacuum system, does not take up floor space, and can discard all fluid from any standard suction canister in 12 seconds.

The Drain-Jug(R) is a disposable 15-liter gravity-fed drain receptacle designed primarily for cystoscopies and arthrocopies and other procedures where there is a significant amount of fluids used for flushing and irrigating. Since newer healthcare facilities are not permitted to build floor drains in operating rooms as previously done, Drain Jug fills the need for an over-sized fluid removing system. Surprisingly affordable, it eliminates the need for collecting fluids in hazardous open-topped kick-buckets. It can be emptied either by Aqua-Box or by manual siphoning.

The Puddle Guppy(R), the industry's only floor fluid aspirator with a detachable handle, eliminates the need for towels and mats on floors during surgery and the clean-up task of pushing or kicking aspirators around the OR floor during clean-up following a heavy-fluid procedure.

DeRoyal is a global supplier of medical products and services. Its four divisional business units, Acute Care, Patient Care, Wound Care, and OEM (original equipment manufacturer), are headquartered in Powell, Tennessee, with 25 manufacturing facilities and offices in five U.S. states (California, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) and in six other countries (Estonia, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Germany and Ireland). Among its more than 25,000 products are suction canisters, TracePak unitized delivery systems, custom procedural trays, surgical accessories, surgical safety and critical care products, anesthesia and temperature monitoring supplies, birthing and neonatal care items, angiography and endoscopy products, rehabilitation and therapy products, sports medicine supports, orthopedic bracing and supports, wound care dressings as well as fiberglass and plaster casting. For additional DeRoyal product information, please call 1/800/DeRoyal (337-6925) or visit the DeRoyal website at: www.deroyal.com