CryoCor Is Formed and Closes $7 Million Round of Financing.

Business Editors/Health & Technology Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2000

CryoCor, Inc., a newly formed medical device company in San Diego, Calif., has closed $7 million of financing from MPM Capital, LLC. CryoCor will develop cardiac arrhythmia management systems based on cryogenic ablation technology licensed from medical device manufacturer CryoGen, Inc., the first company to develop a cryogenic system for uterine ablation.

Funds from the financing will be used to complete development of CryoCor's first generation product, the Glacier(TM) Cardiac Ablation System, obtained from CryoGen in the spinout of CryoCor. These funds will also be used for initiation of both US and European clinical trials to evaluate the Glacier System for supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation ablation.

CryoCor will center efforts on developing a family of catheter-based products that deliver cryogenic energy for creating cardiac lesions to interrupt arrhythmias, providing a curative, minimally invasive patient procedure. The company will initially focus on treating atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia affecting over 2 million patients in the United States alone. Use of the Glacier System in the pulmonary veins of the heart, which drain oxygenated blood from the lungs, may be useful in preventing recurrent episodes of atrial fibrillation. Additionally, the Glacier System may provide significant improvements compared to the alternative of radio-frequency ablation for treating other arrhythmias in both chambers of the heart.

"The spinout of the technology and the eight CryoGen employees who were focused on our cardiology project will significantly accelerate getting this technology into clinical use and speed help to patients," said David Murray, President and CEO, CryoGen.

"CryoCor, with its cryogenic, catheter-based ablation system, is uniquely positioned to provide clinicians with a new option for cardiac ablation," said Gregory Ayers, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, CryoCor. "While radio-frequency ablation has been a highly successful tool in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias over the past two decades, it has reached limits as physicians begin to treat arrhythmias that involve larger areas of the heart. There is a need to provide new, higher powered, clinically relevant energy sources to help physicians treat a wider array of arrhythmias."

CryoCor's Board of Directors will include Ayers and Kurt Wheeler of MPM Capital, and Murray of CryoGen. Ayers is a Venture Partner at MPM and was formerly Vice President of Clinical Affairs at InControl, Inc. He has numerous publications and holds several patents in the cardiac arrhythmia management area. Wheeler is a General Partner at MPM and previously served as Chairman and CEO of InControl. Murray has extensive experience in the medical device industry, including serving as Vice President of Sales and Marketing as well as President of different Johnson & Johnson companies before leaving to run another early-stage medical device company.

MPM Capital is a global, specialized investment firm with more than $800 million under management that is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with offices in San Francisco, California and Frankfurt, Germany. MPM is believed to be the world's largest healthcare venture capital fund, and invests in biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, medical products and devices and e-health. More information on MPM can be found at www.mpmcapital.com.

CryoGen, Inc. is a development-stage medical device company focused on the introduction of a novel cryoablation technology for gynecology. CryoGen has developed a miniature, closed-cycle cryoablation device and supporting system that enables physicians to ablate (destroy) tissue at extremely low temperatures. The initial application of CryoGen's cryoablation technology is the First Option(TM) Uterine Cryoblation Therapy(TM) System, an alternative to hysterectomy for women suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). A patented method of endometrial ablation, the First Option Cryoblation System is currently being marketed on a limited basis for the indication of intra-uterine tissue ablation and is awaiting PMA approval for the specific indication of endometrial ablation to treat AUB.