Press Release December 7th...
BSNS WIRE) PanAmerican BanCorp Announces a Marketing Management Agreemement With National Health and Safety Corporation
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 1998--PanAmerican BanCorp (NASDAQ BB - "PRWT") announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, PanAmerican Healthcorp, entered into a letter of intent with National Health & Safety (NASDAQ BB - "NHLT") to commence a national healthcare services joint venture.
John Schmitz, CEO of PanAmerican BanCorp, indicated that PanAmerican Healthcorp will provide expansion capital and marketing to incorporate National Health's POWERx Medical Benefits Network into PanAmerican's Patient Alliance of America.
The Patient Alliance, scheduled to be launched in January of 1999, will forge a national alliance between healthcare service providers and patients, reducing the cost of healthcare to patients, regardless of their medical history.
Schmitz said the agreement with National Health & Safety includes the national marketing of a new cancer detection technology for which NHS recently acquired the exclusive North American rights. The new technology is a soft tissue ultra-sound scanner.
Dr. Dennis Bowers, CEO of National Health & Safety, described the soft tissue scanner as a "major medical breakthrough" with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Earlier this month, clinical studies commenced at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA which will test the ability of the soft tissue scanner to detect and diagnose "satellite" locations of cancer cells which are often missed in some kinds of cancer surgical procedures, especially melanomas. The clinical studies are under the scientific direction of Dr. Levon Nazarian and Dr. Barry Goldberg at Thomas Jefferson University. National Health & Safety is underwriting the cost of the study.
Satellite locations are very tiny, often no larger than the head of a pin, and may be missed in surgery. They can spread undetected through the body until it is too late to treat them successfully. "This technology is so important that we expect the vast majority of our 3300 hospitals and many of our 360,000 doctors and surgeons to utilize the technology during the next two years," Bowers said. He estimated that revenues generated by use of the Longport technology could exceed $100 million by the end of the third year of marketing. In addition, the Longport technology has many other applications. These include monitoring the development and healing of wounds such as bedsores, burns, and diabetic ulcers, the detection of residual metal fragments in Veterans and steelworkers, applications in dentistry, sports medicine and veterinary sciences.
PanAmerican Healthcorp has committed several million dollars to national Health & Safety Corporation for the continued development,
manufacturing and marketing of the Longport technology and other NHS
products and services during the next two years. Bowers indicated that the exclusive North American marketing rights to the technology is expected to deliver a high return on the investment.
National Health & Safety is America's first national medical discount network, with more than 700,000 medical, surgical and other providers participating nationwide. The POWERx network includes more than 70% of the nation's doctors, surgeons, and hospitals and more than 90% of the nation's pharmacies. Trade-named the POWERx Medical Benefits Network, any company or individual can obtain access to the network providers for about $200 per year. Company employees can obtain services and products from the providers at discounts of up to 60%.
The Longport scanner is the first of several breakthrough medical devices which National Health & Safety plans to make available to its network providers under a new division of the company named ACCESS Advantage. Bowers said that National Health & Safety is presently under discussions with other manufactures of new technology to obtain exclusive licensing rights similar to the one with Longport, which it
will also make available to its network of health care providers. The Longport scanner was recently selected as one of the important new medical breakthroughs in a Public Television Special presented by American Medical Review, which was narrated by Charlton Heston and distributed to 320 Public Television stations nationwide. Studies of the Longport scanner are currently ongoing at West Jersey Medical Center in Camden, NJ, West Hudson Hospital in Kearny, NJ and Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals in London. Approval of the new scanner for soft tissue applications is expected to be received from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) sometime during the first half of 1999, after which marketing will begin.
PanAmerican Healthcorp provides information, management, technology and financial services to the one trillion-dollar healthcare market to fulfill critical needs for both healthcare professionals and consumers. The professional division assists healthcare providers to increase their income in an era of decreasing reimbursements by utilizing the company's sophisticated yet affordable practice management services. The company's consumer division, The Patient Alliance of America, offers patients comprehensive healthcare information and support services, including POWERx, that can substantially reduce healthcare expenses.
Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release may be considered "Forward-looking" statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such Statements include declarations regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company and its management. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results.
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CONTACT: Mary M. Feder
Vice President, Investor Relations
(516) 232-2221
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