Med-Design Products Currently Under License to BD Are Not Affected by Yesterday's BD Announcement; All Options Granted to BD By Med-Design Remain in Force.

VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 31, 1999--

BD Advances Toward Market Launch of Licensed

Med-Design Safety Needle Products

New OSHA Compliance Directives for Safety Needle Products

Due in Fourth Quarter

Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq:MEDC) Tuesday announced that BD's (Becton, Dickenson and Co.) acquisition of additional safety syringe technology does not affect those products currently under license by Med-Design. In addition, Med-Design will continue its efforts to license all products currently under option with BD.

BD, the world's largest manufacturer of needle-based products and the leader in safety engineered needle devices, continues to make significant progress toward the market launch of the licensed Med-Design state-of-the-art safety needle products.

Med-Design believes these products, including the safety I.V. catheter insertion device, safety PICC introducer, safety winged set products and safety blood collection needles, represent a combined worldwide market of more than three billion units in sales per year, with BD representing the largest market share.

Med-Design, a pioneer in the design and development of safety needle products for medical use, granted BD the exclusive right to manufacture and sell these safety needle products on a worldwide basis.

Kevin Seifert, director, policy and business development, BD Advanced Protection Technologies, stated, "We are very pleased with the progress made to date on this next generation of safety products using the Med-Design safety needle technology, and we look forward to their timely market release."

In a previously announced agreement, BD retained Med-Design to assist in certain additional tasks to expedite the market release of BD's new safety I.V. catheter insertion device, using the Med-Design safety needle technology. This process has begun, and Med-Design has committed to complete these tasks consistent with BD's established market launch schedule.

Regarding this important new safety needle technology, Michael Simpson, business director and safety platform team leader, Becton, Dickenson Infusion Therapy Systems stated, "This new Med-Design technology significantly advances safety, is very cost efficient, and is designed to optimize critical user technique requirements."

Simpson added, "We feel strongly that the next generation of BD safety I.V. catheter products using the Med-Design technology will quickly become the market standard. "

Med-Design continues to work with BD on evaluating other products as part of the original agreement entered into in December 1998. These include the Safety Pre-filled Glass Syringe products, both fixed and Luer needle, and the Safety Arterial Blood Gas Syringe.

Med-Design's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James M. Donegan commented, "We have a great deal of confidence in our safety needle technology, and we expect this superior technology to be recognized in these evaluations."

Med-Design has a portfolio of more than 20 safety needle devices, covering applications within the important risk areas of blood collection, infusion therapy, insertion and injection. In addition to the five products licensed to BD and the five products covered by the option agreements with BD, Med-Design is currently in discussions regarding five other products with potential product partners.

These products include the safety pre-filled vial injector, safety hemodialysis needle, safety guidewire introducer, safety Y-port infusion needle, and safety blood donor needle.

On the regulatory front, while most state and federal legislators are currently on summer recess, delaying further legislative action mandating the use of safety needles until their return, OSHA, the federal agency regulating healthcare worker safety in all 50 states, has committed to mandate a broader range of safety initiatives and has targeted completion of these initiatives in the fourth quarter of this year.

Donegan added, "We feel that OSHA's resolution to better protect healthcare workers and prevent accidental needle sticks through mandating broader and more effective needle safety initiatives will dramatically increase the demand for a very broad range of Med-Design's safety needle products."

Donegan added, "In its recognition of the problem of accidental needle sticks, Med-Design has dedicated significant effort and resources toward the development of an extensive safety needle portfolio. These products all use Med-Design's patented needle retraction safety technology, which has become widely recognized as one of the most effective, cost efficient and user preferred methods for providing healthcare worker safety in needle products.

"We are convinced that, with the combination of legislative and regulatory efforts to assure healthcare worker safety by mandating the use of effective safety needle products and the widely recognized Med-Design safety needle technology, Med-Design will become a market leader in this important and rapidly growing market."

Forward-Looking Statements 

This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and accordingly, the cautionary statements contained in Med-Design's Annual Report on form 10-KSB for the year ended Dec. 31, 1998 (See Item I Business, and Item 6 -- Management's Discussion and Analysis of Plan of Operation), and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are incorporated herein by reference.

Such forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release.

Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations of results or any change in events.

Med-Design Corp. is a leader in the design and development of retractable safety needle technology. The company holds numerous U.S. and international patents on safety needle devices that are designed to enable medical workers to efficiently perform a wide range of medical procedures at greatly reduced risk of exposure to accidental needle sticks.

For more information on Med-Design (via fax and at no cost), call 800/PRO-INFO and dial client code "MEDC." If calling from outside the United States, dial 732/544-2850.