Cook Launches Women's Health Business Unit To Increase Quality of Life for Female Patients.

SPENCER, Ind. -- New Business Unit Focused on Delivering Breakthrough Treatments for Female-Related Conditions Including Infertility and Incontinence

Cook, the largest privately held medical device manufacturer in the world, today announced the launch of its Women's Health business unit. Founded on decades of innovative medical device breakthroughs, combined with a worldwide manufacturing presence, Cook Women's Health will uniquely address some of the most prevalent issues in women's health globally including infertility, chronic pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence.

Cook Women's Health brings a new level of patient-centered innovation to market and recognizes that women have special health and medical needs. As a result, Cook Women's Health is taking the initiative to find innovative medical solutions that will help increase the quality of life for female patients by focusing its expertise and global resources to address those needs.

The new Women's Health business unit benefits from Cook's more than 40 years of medical device technology experience with wire guides, needles and catheters. Since its inception, Cook has continually offered the highest quality products that have simplified medical procedures and reduced patient recovery times and in many cases, provided solutions to conditions that would have been otherwise untreatable. Now Cook Women's Health is bringing this expertise to further the advancements in assisted reproductive techniques such as ultrasound guided embryo transfer and innovations in culture environments.

"The advancements Cook delivers for assisted reproductive techniques enables physicians to address a much broader set of patients," said Christina Anne', global leader of Cook's Women's Health Strategic Business Unit. "By improving catheter quality and guidance techniques, Cook's devices are leading to more accurate embryo placement than previously achievable."

Cook Women's Health also provides the only devices and treatments for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence that integrate Cook's revolutionary Small Intestinal Submucosa (SIS) technology. SIS is an acellular biomaterial that supports soft tissue repair with a scaffold-like matrix having an all natural structure and composition. Devices with SIS remodel into organized tissue.

"Cook Women's Health is truly bringing new, advanced technology and devices to market that address some of the most pervasive and chronic conditions facing females of all age groups in all regions of the world," Anne' added.

"The launch of Cook Women's Health leverages years of medical device experience, a global manufacturing presence and an unwavering commitment to patients that we feel will bring new hope to women facing a range of conditions," said Pete Yonkman, president of CUI, the primary manufacturer of Cook Women's Health products and part of the Cook group of companies. "We look forward to working with physicians around the world in delivering innovative devices and techniques that will change the landscape of women's health."

About Cook

With international headquarters in Bloomington, Indiana, COOK(R) (www.cookmedical.com), the world's largest privately held medical device manufacturer, is a leading designer, manufacturer and global distributor of minimally invasive medical device technology for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Since its founding in 1963, Cook has created innovative technologies for radiology, cardiology, urology, critical care medicine, general surgery, assisted reproduction, gynecology and obstetrics, endovascular medicine, gastroenterology and endoscopy.