FDA Approval of Medtronic Kappa 900 Pacemaker Strengthens World's Most Popular Pacemaker Line; Kappa 900 Now Features Atrial Monitoring and Diagnostic Capabilities.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 17, 2001

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), today announced approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the Medtronic Kappa(R) 900 series cardiac pacemakers, featuring new atrial monitoring and diagnostic functions to help physicians make more precise patient management decisions. This pacemaker represents the next generation of the Medtronic Kappa(R) family, the world's most-prescribed pacemakers.

The Kappa family provides premier bradyarrhythmia therapies that treat patients with chronic heart problems in which the heart beats too slowly to adequately support the body's circulatory needs. In addition, the Kappa 900 now offers expanded monitoring information of the atria (upper chambers) and ventricles (lower chambers) that is easy to interpret and enables physicians to more efficiently assess atrial rhythm control and ventricular rate control. This new diagnostic information can result in more confident patient management decisions by physicians and shorter follow-up visits for patients.

"Collection and presentation of this kind of information is a first in the industry," said Steve Mahle, president of Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Management. "It reflects Medtronic's continued commitment to providing products that not only deliver superior therapies, but also help physicians better understand and treat current and evolving patient conditions."

Kappa 900 pacemakers, which will be market released globally in early January, offer the full Kappa family suite of arrhythmia management tools and patient safety features, plus new arrhythmia diagnostics and monitoring information, such as:

-- Cardiac Compass(TM) trending information, which provides daily atrial
fibrillation measurements to assess atrial rhythm control. This information can
improve a physician's ability to track disease progression, as well as the
effectiveness of current device and drug therapies.

-- Monitoring of the ventricular rate during an atrial arrhythmia (Opposite
Chamber monitoring), which helps assess ventricular rate control. This
information can be viewed in a graphical snapshot format (called a rate
histogram) or by viewing the specific episode EGM information. Kappa 900 has
expanded its EGM storage capability to three times more than previous Kappa
models.

-- Specific information on the frequency and duration of arrhythmias, which
help with risk assessment of symptoms and in determining whether a change in
anticoagulation medicines is warranted.

-- Enhancements to Ventricular Capture Management(TM), which help manage pacing
thresholds automatically and more reliably.

Medtronic plans to launch an unprecedented number of new Cardiac Rhythm Management products over the coming months, including a new family of defibrillators, a unique ablation catheter, a new programmer with remote viewing capabilities that will serve all Medtronic CRM devices and several heart failure products. Last month, the company launched the Sprint Quattro Secure(TM) steroid-eluting right ventricular lead for use with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.

Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the world's leading medical technology company, providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. Its Internet address is www.medtronic.com.

Any statements made about the company's anticipated financial results and regulatory approvals are forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 27, 2001. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.