CryoGen Completes New Round of Financing for $21.2 Million.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 2, 2000

CryoGen, Inc., today announced the completion of a $21.2 million round of financing led by JHK Investments. CryoGen is a women's healthcare company focused on uterine cryoablation (extreme cold that freezes and destroys tissue) to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB).

JHK Investments is an investment partnership founded by the former senior management of United States Surgical Corporation. Collectively, the partners have close to 100 years of experience designing, manufacturing and marketing medical products worldwide and have built and managed a $1.5 billion global medical device business. The partnership's principal investments are in early stage, high-tech medical device companies.

Other premier investors who participated in this and previous rounds of financing include: Integral Capital Partners; INVESCO Private Capital; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Technology Partners; Tredegar Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TG) and Vanguard Venture Partners. The completion of this round of financing brings the total funding for this venture to $46.2 million.

"This new investment will enable CryoGen to build a sales and marketing team to launch the FIRST OPTION(TM) Uterine Cryoblation Therapy(TM) System following receipt of our PMA approval for endometrial ablation, which we anticipate in the first quarter of 2001," said David Murray, president and CEO, CryoGen, Inc. "Along with the investment, JHK brings considerable experience and partner relationships to help us build a top quality sales and marketing team," Murray continued.

"As an active investor, JHK will participate in CryoGen's sales and marketing efforts in preparation for the successful launch of FIRST OPTION," said Leon Hirsch, CryoGen's Chairman and Principal at JHK Investments. "We are excited about the physician acceptance of the FIRST OPTION System and the opportunity to help build CryoGen, Inc. into a significant new women's health company."

FIRST OPTION(TM) Cryoblation Therapy(TM), which is currently under PMA review for the specific indication of endometrial ablation, is a twenty-five minute procedure that can be performed in an outpatient surgery facility or in a physician office procedure room. The technique usually requires local anesthesia with possible light oral or IV sedation. Patients recover quickly, eliminating the need for a recovery room usually offered only in hospital operating rooms.

A large percentage of women in the U.S. suffer from abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). The therapeutic alternatives available to patients today include a hysteroscopically-guided procedure, which is offered by only a limited number of gynecologists; a thermal balloon procedure which is suitable for only a limited subset of patients--those with normal uterine cavities; and hysterectomy, a procedure which requires several weeks of recovery and often has long-term, negative side effects. When given the alternative, the Company believes that physicians treating women with AUB will overwhelmingly opt for the First Option System as their treatment of choice.

About CryoGen

CryoGen, Inc. is a commercialization-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 platform cryoablation technology is the First Option(TM) Uterine Cryoblation Therapy(TM) System, a potential alternative to hysterectomy for women suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). A patented device for use in 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.