To: Big Bamboo who wrote (11 ) 12/2/1998 2:25:00 PM From: barbara sperino Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 409
Saw this pr thought this might be of interest . (COMTEX) B: NATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY SIGNS EXCLUSIVE MARKETING RIGHTS B: NATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY SIGNS EXCLUSIVE MARKETING RIGHTS FOR NEW DIAGNOSTIC Utrasound Technology WARMINSTER, Pa., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- National Health & Safety Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: NHLT) announced today that it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement to market a new diagnostic ultrasound technology to its national network of hospitals and doctors in North America. The new technology, owned and manufactured by Longport, Inc. of Swarthmore, PA (OTC Bulletin Board: LPTI), includes a soft tissue scanning device with which the Longport scanner can identify tiny soft tissue abnormalities such as melanomas within the skin and up to 1.5 inches under it without the need for invasive procedures such as biopsies. 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 3,300 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. National Health & Safety has committed several millions of dollars to the continued development, manufacturing and marketing of the Longport technology 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 of NHS. 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 then 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 is network providers under a new division of the company named ACCESS Advantage. Bowers said that National Health & Safety is presently under discussions with other manufacturers 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 and Drug Administration (FDA) sometime during the first half of 1999, after which marketing will begin. SOURCE National Health & Safety Corporation -0- 12/02/98 /CONTACT: Kerri A. Millar of National Health & Safety, 215-442-0926/ (NHLT LPTI) CO: National Health & Safety Corporation; Longport, Inc. ST: Pennsylvania IN: HEA MTC SU: LIC *** end of story ***