Fast, New Myocardial Imaging Agent licensed for marketing provides flexible, cost-effectuve options.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.--(HealthWire)--Feb. 12, 1996--Medi-Physics, Inc., Amersham Healthcare announces the availability of MYOVIEW (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc-99m Tetrofosmin).

Already used in many European countries and Japan, MYOVIEW represents a new generation of technetium heart agents in terms of preparation and imaging flexibility, providing diagnostic answers in record time and significant cost savings potential. With the introduction of MYOVIEW into the U.S. market, Medi-Physics has the broadest range of products for nuclear medicine use, both imaging and therapeutic, in the country. Medi-Physics, with its distribution network of 120 radiopharmacy facilities, has the largest professional preparation, dispensing and distribution system in the U.S. reaching the largest customer base.

Convenient, Easy to Prepare

MYOVIEW is available in freeze-dried form, easily reconstituted at room temperature and utilizes familiar thin-layer chromatography methods for quality control. Since there is no boiling step involved, MYOVIEW is quickly available for patient injection, a decided advantage for both hospitals and radiopharmacies.

Fast

MYOVIEW clears more rapidly from the liver than the Tc-99m heart agents currently available, so high diagnostic quality images can be obtained quickly. Rapid clearance of MYOVIEW from non-target organs provides the ability to image from fifteen minutes post injection. The ability to perform single day protocols involving both stress and rest images is a significant advantage to both busy nuclear cardiology departments and to patients, who will not need to return on a second day to complete the study. Diagnostically Accurate In a Phase-III clinical trial for a Tc-99m heart agent, MYOVIEW images were read by four investigators, blinded and totally independent of each other, a more stringent evaluation than in other clinical trials of this type. These investigators reported high sensitivity and specificity percentages for MYOVIEW. Overall, the clinical trialists reported that

MYOVIEW images were of superior technical quality and easier to interpret than Tl-201 images. Sub-diaphragmatic activity did not present an image interpretation problem or creation of image artifacts. In addition, software for quantitative analysis of images (CEqual ) will be available shortly after MYOVIEW is launched.

Flexible

MYOVIEW does not show any evidence of myocardial redistribution. Therefore, the MYOVIEW image of the stress perfusion status can be acquired any time up to four hours post- stress injection. This allows for flexible gamma camera scheduling. To fit varying needs or to provide additional information, two day protocols can also be scheduled.

MYOVIEW can be used with all pharmacological stress agents as well as with exercise stress, and it is possible to use MYOVIEW for first pass and gated studies as well as for perfusion imaging. Studies are underway to show that MYOVIEW may be a diagnostic tool for use in emergency situations to determine if a patient is having a cardiac or non-cardiac event. MYOVIEW can be delivered in kit form or in ready-to-use unit dose form through the Medi-Physics network of 120 radiopharmacies.

Cost Effective

Patient throughput is a concern for many institutions and for managed care organizations. The ability to perform a diagnostically accurate test quickly using MYOVIEW in a single day protocol saves the department time by providing the ability to perform more studies in that day.

Outpatients will be saved the inconvenience and cost of returning on a second day to complete the test. The multidose vial and radiopharmacy availability provide options that can result in cost efficiencies that will benefit both large and small nuclear imaging departments.

In addition to MYOVIEW, the company also supplies thallium-201, Tc-99m HSA and Tc-99m PYP for cardiovascular imaging and recently signed an agreement to distribute Fujisawa USA, Inc.'s pharmacologic stress agent Adenoscan (adenosine injection). This unique offering of products and the nation's largest network of regional radiopharmacy facilities is expected to significantly impact the $210 million heart imaging market in the U.S.

Medi-Physics, Inc., Amersham Healthcare, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based health science company Amersham International plc, which has world-wide manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Its leadership in radiopharmaceuticals and brachytherapy is exemplified further by innovative products such as Ceretec (Technetium Tc-99m Exametazime Injection) used in brain imaging and in white blood cell labeling to detect infection and inflammation; Metastron

(Strontium-89 Chloride Injection) to palliate pain from metastatic bone cancer; I-125 Seeds and I-125 RAPID Strand (implantable devices for early stage prostate cancer); and a number of other proprietary products. Amersham is also the world's leading supplier of life-science products for university and pharmaceutical research. -0-

Myoview is a trademark of Amersham International plc

Ceretec and Metastron are registered trademarks of Amersham International pl I-125 Seeds and I-125 RAPID Strand are registered trademarks of

Medi-Physics, Inc., Amersham Healthcare Adenoscan is the trademark of Fujisawa USA, Inc.

CEqual is the registered trademark of Cedars Sinai Medical Center. It was developed by Cedars Sinai Medical Center and Emory University Medical Center for the quantitation of myocardial perfusion.

Tetrofosmin is covered by U.S. Patent No. 5,045,302.

CONTACT: William A. Ehmig

Medi-Physics, Inc., Amersham Healthcare

Telephone: [phone] ext. 244

Fax: [phone]