St. Jude Medical Announces Global Launch of Seal-Away CS Peel-Away Introducer Kit.

Business Editors

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2002

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) announced today the global launch of the Seal-Away(TM)CS Peel-Away introducer kit. This new kit allows easier access to the coronary sinus (CS) during permanent lead placement for resynchronization therapy by means of biventricular pacing.

The new Seal-Away(TM) CS introducer kit provides vascular access technology exclusive to St. Jude Medical. The long peel-away sheaths with specialty curves can help a physician quickly gain access to the coronary sinus and perform a CS venogram--facilitating visualization of the left ventricular vasculature for optimal lead placement.

While implanting leads to the right side of the heart is commonplace, there is a growing trend toward implanting an additional lead to synchronize the left ventricle, especially in patients suffering from heart failure (HF). Left-side lead placement can be time consuming due to difficult cardiac anatomy. The Seal-Away(TM) CS is designed to help reduce procedure length and fluoroscopy exposure time in biventricular resynchronization device implants by providing quick access into the left heart.

Ventricular resynchronization with biventricular pacing can help patients suffering from heart failure--a serious condition affecting over 15 million people worldwide. With heart failure, the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles) sometimes beat asynchronously and are unable to pump a sufficient amount of the blood to the body, contributing to shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling, and other debilitating symptoms. With 450,000 new patients diagnosed with HF each year in the U.S.--and a high mortality rate--St. Jude Medical is developing a portfolio of technologies as part of its cardiac rhythm management strategy to treat HF.

"St. Jude Medical has been an industry leader in peel-away and guiding introducer technology for over a decade," said David W. Adinolfi, President of the St. Jude Medical Daig Division. "We offer the broadest selection available, with various lengths, complex three-dimensional curves, and proprietary materials that ensure kink-resistant insertion and flexibility in vivo. By combining our peel-away and guiding introducer technologies, we are offering physicians a new industry standard for the most dependable, effective method of cannulating the difficult-to-access coronary sinus."

Adinolfi continued, "The problem of left heart access cannot be solved with a single introducer. Every heart is unique, so we are continuing to develop new guiding introducer systems that help physicians treat a growing HF population. The Seal-Away(TM) CS fills an important clinical need and, paired with the Frontier(TM) 3X2 biventricular resynchronization device and Aescula(TM) LV lead (both currently in U.S. clinical trials), strengthens our HF technology platform for cardiac rhythm management."

Any statements made regarding St. Jude Medical's anticipated future product launches, revenues, earnings, market shares and potential clinical success are forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as those described in the Financial Section of the company's Annual Report to Shareholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001 (page 4-6). Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (http://www.sjm.com) is dedicated to the design, manufacture and distribution of innovative medical devices of the highest quality, offering physicians, patients and payers unmatched clinical performance and demonstrated economic value.