ST. LOUIS, and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt Inc. and
Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., announced today that they have signed a new
agreement for the WarmTouch(R) brand of convective warming products. The new
agreement will incorporate the WarmTouch products into the recently announced
broader Corporate Partnership Agreement between Premier and Mallinckrodt.
The agreement follows the mid-June announcement that the Federal Circuit
Court of Appeals had ruled in Mallinckrodt's favor in patent litigation
involving WarmTouch. The dual source WarmTouch agreement with Premier is an
outgrowth of Mallinckrodt's renewed sales and marketing focus on the product
line following the court decision. The agreement becomes effective October 1,
1999, and extends through 2006.
"We are extremely pleased to be able to add this important product to
Mallinckrodt's Corporate Partnership Agreement with Premier," C. Ray Holman,
Mallinckrodt chairman and chief executive officer, said. "It broadens even
further our product offering to Premier owners and member hospitals, making
available another high-quality, clinically useful product that can lead to
improved healthcare at an affordable cost."
Lynn Detlor, Premier Purchasing Partners president, said, "The addition of
the WarmTouch warming system to the existing, comprehensive Mallinckrodt
product offering for our owners and members is further evidence of the value
of the Corporate Partnership between our two organizations. Our owners and
members are well-served by the superior technologies that Mallinckrodt offers
to meet their clinical and economic needs."
The Mallinckrodt-Premier Corporate Partnership now covers Nellcor oximetry
products, endotracheal and tracheostomy tubes, temperature monitoring systems,
WarmTouch convective warming systems, Liebel-Flarsheim power injector
disposables, contrast imaging agents, radiopharmaceuticals and Optison(R),
the only U.S.-marketed ultrasound contrast media.
The WarmTouch system includes warming blankets that are used in surgery
and post-operatively. These blankets are connected to blowers which fill the
blankets with warm air. Many research studies have demonstrated significant
clinical and cost benefits to maintaining patient temperature within normal
ranges during surgery, including significant decreases in the incidence of
cardiac complications and wound infections, and significant improvements in
recovery time and length of hospital stay.
Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., is the purchasing arm of Premier, Inc.,
a strategic alliance of leading hospitals and healthcare systems across the
country that represents 215 owners and the 868 hospitals and healthcare
facilities they operate and approximately 900 other affiliated hospitals.
Total annual purchasing volume for the alliance reached $10 billion in 1998.
The Premier web site address is http://www.premierinc.com .
Mallinckrodt Inc., based in St. Louis, Mo., has three healthcare product
groups -- Imaging, Pharmaceuticals and Respiratory. The company operates in
more than 100 countries and had fiscal 1999 net sales of $2.6 billion.
The Mallinckrodt web site address is http://www.mallinckrodt.com .
CONTACT: Barbara Abbett, 314-654-5230, e-mail, Communications@mkg.com, or
Investors, Barbara Gould, 314-654-3190, e-mail, Invest@mkg.com, both of
Mallinckrodt.
SOURCE Mallinckrodt Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.mallinckrodt.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/440950.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 440950
CONTACT:
Barbara Abbett, 314-654-5230, e-mail,
Communications@mkg.com, or Investors, Barbara Gould,
314-654-3190, e-mail, Invest@mkg.com, both of Mallinckrodt
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