Haemonetics Promotes Dr. Peter Tomasulo to Corporate Medical Director and Senior Vice President; New Red Cell Business Unit to Focus On Worldwide Opportunities.

BRAINTREE, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--March 11, 1999--Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) announced the promotion of Dr. Peter Tomasulo to Corporate Medical Director and Senior Vice President, Red Cell Business Unit. The Red Cell Business Unit is a new division created to provide dedicated focus on Haemonetics' opportunity to automate blood collection. The 40 million, manual blood donations made each year provide the target market for this Haemonetics' initiative.

Dr. Tomasulo joined Haemonetics in September, 1996. For the past year, he has led the successful effort to divest the Haemonetics' division which owned or operated US blood collection centers. Dr. Tomasulo is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is certified in internal medicine, hematology, and blood banking. He spent 8 years in increasingly responsible management positions in the American Red Cross, ending his career as Chief Operating Officer of American Red Cross Blood Services which accepted 6 million blood donations per year under his responsibility. Dr. Tomasulo continued his career with the International Federation of Red Cross Societies in Geneva, Switzerland where he was Director of the Blood Department. In that capacity, he played a key role in the development of quality management systems in Red Cross blood programs throughout the world.

New Technologies

As Corporate Medical Director, Dr. Tomasulo will manage advanced development projects to insure that Haemonetics remains a forerunner in emerging technologies in the blood banking and autotransfusion industries. He will also seek long-term, strategic prospects for Haemonetics.

Red Blood Cell Market Opportunities

The Red Cell Business Unit is a new division. It will focus on bringing Haemonetics' automated blood collection technology to those blood centers and hospitals worldwide that continue to use "manual" blood collection techniques to collect blood from individuals. Haemonetics' technology automatically separates out a blood component (red cells, platelets, plasma) as the donation is progressing. Red cells are the blood component most in demand.

As Senior Vice President, Red Cell Business Unit, Dr. Tomasulo will have worldwide responsibility for the performance of the red cell business, including sales and profit contribution. He will manage a global, strategic plan to insure that progress is achieved in line with the Company's annual and long-term plans. He will specifically focus on next generation red cell products, and the Unit will provide the necessary regulatory and sales support to Haemonetics' worldwide sales organizations.

"The largest, near-term growth opportunity for Haemonetics is the successful implementation of our red cell programs. The establishment of the Red Cell Business Unit will ensure a dedicated and comprehensive focus during the next critical development phase of this new business," said Mr. James L. Peterson, Haemonetics' President and CEO. "We are the only company with the technology to collect two units of red blood cells from a single donor. We are on the cusp of penetrating this market of 40 million procedures per year and converting these procedures to our proprietary, blood collection technology."

Haemonetics is a global company engaged in the design, manufacture, and worldwide marketing of automated blood processing systems. These systems address important medical markets: surgical blood salvage, blood component collections, and plasma collections. Over sixty percent of the Company's business is outside the US. To learn more about Haemonetics' products and markets, visit the Company's web site at http://www.haemonetics.com.