NEWS! 3/15/00 FONAR Makes MRI Sale to Texas Imaging Center!
FONAR's New National Distributor Makes First MRI Sale; Texas Imaging Center Purchases FONAR's Top Scanner
Business Editors, Health/Medical Writers
MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000--FONAR
Corporation (NASDAQ: FONR), The Patient-Friendly(TM) MRI Company,
announced that DAMA-MRI , an independent L.L.C., has selected a FONAR
QUAD(TM) 12000 for its new imaging center in Edinburg, Texas. The sale
was concluded by X-Ray Marketing Associates, Inc. (XMA), FONAR's
recently chosen national distributor.
Mr. Larry Pegram, general manager of XMA, said, "We've been very
pleased to represent FONAR MRI products. This sale coupled with the
fact that we have four more solid prospects in the pipeline speaks
very highly both of FONAR's superior product line and the company's
sales and marketing organization. They've wisely undertaken an ongoing
program of educating, training and supporting their distributors, and
it's obviously paying off. Our future with FONAR looks very
promising."
DAMA-MRI purchased the QUAD(TM) 12000, FONAR's highest-field Open
MRI. The owner, Mr. Monif Nazif, explained why they chose the QUAD:
"Our selection criterion for choosing an MRI was simple - we need the
competitive edge. Many referring physicians send their patients to
high-field MRIs for one reason only - image quality. In the past, that
meant a claustrophobic, noisy, "tunnel" MRI which is a major problem
for many patients. Today's patients are savvy. They want, even demand,
the spaciousness and quiet of an Open MRI. FONAR's QUAD(TM) 12000 is
the perfect solution. With a magnet strength of 0.6 Tesla, about twice
that of most other Open MRIs, it delivers the excellent image quality
the referring physicians are looking for and, at the same time, it's
extremely patient-friendly - open on all four sides, quiet and fast.
The scope of marketing opportunities this scanner presents is
enormous." The facility will be ready for the installation of the
scanner this summer.
XMA, an umbrella organization of 74 independent distributors, was
founded more than 20 years ago. XMA is the only national network of
independent X-Ray dealers and has annual revenues of $1.8 billion.
FONAR's full product line, the "FONAR Seven," also includes the
Echo, a compact whole-body Open MRI scanner designed to sell at a low
price and the economical QUAD 7000. The company's works-in-progress
scanners include the Pinnacle(TM), a new high-field superconducting
Open MRI scanner; the Stand-Up MRI(TM), the only scanner that provides
MRI images of the patient in the weight-bearing state; and the
dual-purpose Open Sky MRI(TM) and OR-360(degree) (TM) (MRI Operating
Room), which contain both the large field of view needed for
diagnostic purposes and the small field of view needed for surgical
purposes.
In 1980, FONAR introduced the world's first commercial MRI
whole-body scanner. The widespread application of Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) in medicine and biology today is the direct result of
the landmark discoveries and early pioneering work of Raymond
Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR. His seminal
discoveries of the variations in soft body tissue relaxation times, as
well as the cancer detecting NMR signal, are the means used by all MRI
scanners to detect cancer and distinguish healthy versus diseased
tissues. A 1997 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed that Dr. Damadian's
patented discoveries are fundamental to every MRI unit in the
marketplace today.
Be sure to visit FONAR's Website for Company
product and investor information.
www.fonar.com
This release may include forward-looking statements from the
company that may or may not materialize. Additional information on
factors that could potentially affect the company's financial results
may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
--30--sm/ny*
CONTACT: FONAR Corporation, Melville
Daniel Culver, Director of Communications
David Terry, VP, Secretary
Phone: 516/694-2929
Fax: 516/390-9540
E-mail: investor@fonar.com
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