ST. LOUIS and SAN DIEGO, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt Inc.
(NYSE: MKG) and Molecular Biosystems, Inc. (NYSE:MB) announced today that
OPTISON(R), the first and only commercially available advanced-generation
cardiac ultrasound contrast imaging agent in the U.S. and Europe, is the
subject of more than a dozen presentations at this year's annual meeting of
the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Being held in New Orleans, La.,
from March 7 through March 10, the ACC meeting attracts more than 30,000
medical professionals and industry representatives from around the world.
(OPTISON is a trademark of Mallinckrodt Inc.)
Topics to be addressed in the abstracts include results of studies on the
use of the ultrasound contrast agent for endocardial border delineation and
myocardial perfusion. OPTISON currently is under clinical investigation for
myocardial perfusion indications.
Arthur Labovitz, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Saint Louis University,
St. Louis, Mo., said, "I am impressed by the number of presentations on
OPTISON as well as the quality and broad scope of these studies. This
reflects the growing interest and utility of contrast echocardiography and is
early evidence that contrast will become a standard of care in cardiology."
The list of abstracts being presented at the ACC scientific session
appears at the end of this news release.
More than 15 million cardiac ultrasound procedures are performed annually
in the United States and Europe. Physicians estimate that up to 20 percent of
these exams are technically difficult and provide less than optimal
information for clinical decision making. OPTISON is specifically indicated
for use in patients with suboptimal echocardiograms to opacify the left
ventricle and to improve the delineation of the left ventricular endocardial
borders.
Developed by Molecular Biosystems and marketed in the United States and
Europe by Mallinckrodt, OPTISON currently is being used commercially in more
than 1,600 hospitals and cardiology group practices throughout the United
States, Germany, Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Molecular Biosystems (NYSE: MB), based in San Diego, Calif., is a world
leader in the development and commercialization of ultrasound contrast agents
for diagnostic imaging. The company's innovative product, OPTISON, enables
improved diagnosis of heart disease through clearer ultrasound images.
Information about MBI may be obtained via fax by calling 888-329-4007
(toll-free) or via the Internet by pointing your browser to
http://www.mobi.com.
Based in St. Louis, Mo., Mallinckrodt Inc. has three healthcare product
groups -- Imaging, Pharmaceuticals and Respiratory. The company operates in
more than 100 countries and had fiscal 1998 net sales of $2.4 billion. The
Mallinckrodt web site address is http://www.mallinckrodt.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties. Among the factors that could result in a materially
different outcome are: the failure of OPTISON to gain market acceptance
either in the U.S. or other markets; an adverse result in MBI's and
Mallinckrodt's pending patent lawsuits or an adverse ruling by the PTO in the
pending patent reexaminations; and other risk factors reported from time to
time in MBI's and Mallinckrodt's filings with the Securities Exchange
Commission.
Abstracts Focusing on OPTISON Being Presented at 1999 ACC Scientific Session
"New Insights into Mechanisms of Albumin Microbubble Adhesion to Coronary
Endothelium Using Chemically Modified Microbubbles." Cheryl Clay, William
Wagner, Brent Golec, Sheila Podell, Maris Fenyus, Gregory Wller, Rolf
Lohrmann, Flordeliza Villanueva. University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Molecular Biosystems, San Diego, California, USA.
"The Usefulness of Second Generation Ultrasound Contrast Agent to Identify
Intracardiace Thrombus." Tomoo Nagai, Shaul Atar, Huai Luo, Tasneem Naqvi,
Robert J. Siegel. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
"The Effect of OPTISON on Sensitivity and Specificity of Dobutamine
Contrast Echocardiography in Technically Difficult Patients." Melda Dolan,
Sanjeev Puri, Kamala Tamirisa, Santhosh Koshy, Jeanette St. Vrain, Elena
Havens, Jean Flanagan, Mort Kern, Toni Bransford, Arthur Labovitz. St. Louis
University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
"Is the Technically Limited Echo Study an Endangered Species? Endocardial
Border Definition with Native Tissue Harmonic Imaging and OPTISON Contrast: A
Review of 200 Cases." Vinay Malhotra, John Nwogu, Kathie Dean, Kim Weiss,
Maurice Bean, Teresa Bieniarz, Larissa Brodsky, Meg Tertell, Maureen Conliss,
Stephen Devries. University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA
"Pulse Inversion Harmonic Imaging Consistently Achieves Myocardial
Opacification Which Is Virtually Apparent, But Non-Uniform Following
Intravenous OPTISON in Patients." Bruni Cotter, Koji Ohmori, G. Money
Strachan, Karen McClure, Julia Okun, Oi Ling Kwan, Daniel Blanchard, Anthony
N. DeMaria. University of California, San Diego, California, USA
"Real-Time Detection of Myocardial Perfusion Defects with Power Harmonic
Imaging." Tamanna Nahar, Samantha Buckley, Lori Croft, Eric Stern, Aman
Hnahar, Ganesh Venkataraman, Orna David, Martin Goldman. Mount Sinai Medical
Center, New York, New York, USA
"Contrast Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography in 100 Consecutive Patients:
Improvement in Image Quality, Wall Segment Visualization and Confidence of
Interpretation." Andrew J. Rainbird, Patricia A. Pellikka, Sharon L. Mulvagh,
Robert B. McCully, Jae K. Oh, Kyle W. Klarich, Clarence Shub, Douglas W.
Mahoney, James B. Seward. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
"Benefit of IV Contrast and Harmonic Imaging During Dobutamine Stress
Echocardiography." Thomas J. Lewandowski, David S. Bach, Erick Avelar, Thanh
H. Duong-Wagner, James R. Carroll, P. Michael Grossman, William F. Armstrong.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
"Endocardial Definition by Real-Time Three-Dimensional Echocardiography;
Improved Delineation with Contrast Enhancement." June Tan, Fabio C. dos
Santos, Gail E. Peterson, Steven T. Mast, Lisa W. Forbess, Carolyn L. Donovan,
Joseph Kisslo, Thomas Ryan. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North
Carolina, USA
"Combined Evaluation of Functional Perfusion by Myocardial Contrast
Echocardiography in the Clinical Setting." Agnes Pasquet, Frank A.
Flachskampf, Annitta J. Morehead, Jill A. Odabashian, Allan L. Klein.
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
"A New Method for Infusing OPTISON Which Yields Consistent Myocardial
Enhancement (MCE) for Fifteen Minutes." Jeff J. Miller, Julie K.
Doerr-Stevens, Anne L. Kiliam, Yigal Greener, Teri Kuvelas, Howard C.
Dittrich. Molecular Biosystems, Inc., San Diego, California, USA
"Assessment of Refill Kinetics of Microbubbles for Quantification of
Myocardial Perfusion: Is a Single Frame Enough to Destroy All Myocardial
Contrast?" Klaus Tiernann, Harald Becher, Thomas Schleosser, Berndt Loderitz.
University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
"Advantages of Doppler Tissue Energy-Harmonic Modality for Contrast
Perfusion Imaging -- A Comparative In Vitro Study." Akihiro Hata, Cheryl L.
Reld, Takashi Tokushima, Julius M. Gardin. University of California, Irvine,
Medical Center, Orange, California, USA
"Increased Detection of Viable Myocardium Using Myocardial Perfusion
Analysis With Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography in Patients with Resting Wall
Motion Abnormalities." Melda Dolan, Sanjeev Purl, Kamala Tamirisa, Santhosh
Koshy, Jeanette St. Vrain, Elena Havens, Jean Flanagan, Kathleen Habermehf,
Mort Kern, Henry Goodgold, Toni Bransford, Arthur Labovitz. St. Louis
University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
"Quantitative Analysis of Coronary Vasoulopathy in Patients With Fabry
Disease by Contrast Echo Myocardial Perfusion." Martin E. Goldman, Ganesh
Venkataraman, Christine Eng, Samantha Buckley, Tamanna Nahar, John Fallon,
Alan Gass, Meir Shinnar, Davendra Mehta, Aman Nahar, Paul Santini, Robert
Desnick. Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
SOURCE Mallinckrodt Inc.
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http://www.mallinckrodt.com
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CONTACT:
Media, Barbara Abbett, 314-654-5230, email,
Communications@mkg.com, or Investor, Barbara Gould, 314-654-3190,
email, Invest@mkg.com, both of Mallinckrodt Inc.
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