4th May 2005 12:41
Deltex Medical Group PLC04 May 2005 Deltex Medical Group plc ('Deltex Medical' / 'Company') Results of Annual General Meeting 4th May 2005: Deltex Medical Group plc ('Deltex Medical' or the 'Company'), theAIM listed haemodynamic monitoring company today held its Annual GeneralMeeting. The following is a summary of comments made by Nigel Keen, Chairman,and Andy Hill, Chief Executive Officer. All resolutions put to shareholders atthe meeting were passed. Deltex Medical has continued to make progress in Q1 2005 towards its goal ofestablishing haemodynamic optimisation, using its CardioQTM blood flow monitor,as a standard of care for patients undergoing moderate and major surgery and forthose in intensive care. New clinical trial results announced today from the Freeman Hospital inNewcastle upon Tyne show that patients treated using the CardioQ during bowelsurgery recovered from their operations both more fully and more quickly. Thisis the eighth prospective randomised controlled clinical trial to assess theimpact of using the CardioQ during or after moderate or major surgery; each ofthem has shown statistically significant and substantial clinical and economicbenefits and each new study makes our value proposition to hospitals ever morecompelling. The operating theatre environment comprises the largest component of our targetmarket due to the volumes of patients treated and we have established a clearand substantial first-mover advantage in it. In intensive care units, whichcomprise the second largest element of our target market, doctors have awidening choice of technologies for monitoring cardiac performance; sinceinstant detection of changes in patients' haemodynamic status is not always ascrucial to their outcomes as it is in operating theatres, the CardioQ often hasto compete on its other strengths of price, safety and ease of use. Anindependent survey of intensive care units in England and Wales validated ourmarket leading position both as the most common alternative to long established,but highly invasive, Pulmonary Artery Catheter devices and as comfortably themost commonly preferred monitoring solution. In the UK we have seen consistently higher consumption and sales of disposableprobes for each of the last six months and continue to actively pursue suchgrowth by providing post-sales clinical training on the installed base. We alsocontinue to seek growth through expansion of the installed base with aparticular emphasis on promoting wide-scale usage in targeted hospitals. Two ofthe twenty hospitals we targeted most closely in 2004 purchased the CardioQmonitors they needed in March and a third bought all but two of the monitors thedoctors need to implement the CardioQ as a standard of care for moderate andmajor surgery. We expect to conclude discussions with a number of the otherseventeen hospitals over the coming months and we are considerably expanding thenumber of hospitals we target in this way. We are pursuing similar "hospital-wide" approaches in the USA and, with ourdistributors, in a number of European countries and expect to be able to reportpositive progress over the coming months. In the meantime there are encouragingsigns of underlying growth in both these territories and also in Latin Americaand the Far East. The growth in the recurring revenue stream combined with cost reduction measureswe took earlier in the year, including a 20% reduction in headcount, means thatthe average monthly cash burn has been significantly reduced and is now lowerthan at any point in the Company's history. The Company has growing momentumand is very well positioned to generate the extra sales growth needed to see itbecome profitable. The Board remains confident that the Company has sufficientcash and working capital facilities to see it through to profitability. For further information, please contact:- Deltex Medical Group plc 01243 774 837Nigel Keen, ChairmanAndy Hill, Chief ExecutiveEwan Phillips, Finance Director Financial Dynamics 0207 831 3113David YatesLucy Briggs Notes for Editors Deltex Medical manufactures and markets the CardioQ monitor, which usesdisposable ultra-sound probes inserted into the oesophagus to determine theamount of blood being pumped around the body - 'circulating blood volume'.Reduced circulating blood volume is known as hypovolaemia, which leads toinsufficient oxygen being delivered to the organs. This causes medicalcomplications including peripheral and major organ failure which can lead todeath. Hypovolaemia, which is akin to severe dehydration, affects virtuallyevery patient having surgery because of the combined effects of pre-operativestarvation, the impact of the anaesthetic agents and trauma from the surgeryitself. Using fluids and drugs, guided by the CardioQ, to optimise the amountof circulating blood significantly reduces post-operative complications allowingpatients to make a faster, more complete recovery and return home earlier. The CardioQ incorporates the Company's proprietary software and a smalldiameter, easy-to-use, minimally invasive, disposable oesophageal probe that isused for transmitting and receiving an ultra-sound signal. By using thistechnology, the CardioQ provides clinicians with the ability to haemodynamicallyoptimise critically ill patients and those undergoing routine moderate to majorsurgery through the controlled administration of fluid and drugs. Haemodynamicoptimisation has been scientifically proven to improve the speed and quality ofpatient recovery and reduce hospital stay. There are already over 1,250 CardioQs currently in use in hospitals worldwideand distribution arrangements are in place in over 30 countries. In addition,there are currently more than 90 clinical publications on the use of the CardioQwhich have repeatedly:- • validated the results of the Monitor against known standards for measuring cardiac output, demonstrating that the technology works • proved that the CardioQ works in a wide range of surgical procedures • demonstrated that the Company's technology provides significant health and economic benefits by helping to reduce post-operative complications and length of hospital stays by an average of 30 to 40 per cent for a wide range of patients. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Deltex Medical