CellaVision establishes U.S. presence by acquiring Triangle Imaging Inc.

CellaVision establishes U.S. presence by acquiring Triangle Imaging Inc. CellaVision has through its wholly owned subsidiary CellaVision Inc., performed a strategic acquisition by acquiring the assets and intellectual property of Triangle Imaging Inc. (TII) from Triangle Biomedical Sciences Inc. (TBS). TII, formerly known as IMI, Intelligent Medical Imaging Inc., has until now been CellaVision's leading competitor in the digital analysis of white blood cells. TII is based in Jupiter, Florida where CellaVision Inc. will now have its base. CellaVision will now have direct access to the automated microscope MICRO21, including technology, inventory, existing customers and also a detailed market analysis of potential customers in the U.S. market. The new CellaVision team will provide direct and immediate access to the American market and also bring their substantial experience and knowledge. "Through the acquisition, we will gain much quicker access to the U.S. market for our instrument DiffMaster, which will be introduced in the U.S. next year. At the same time, sales of the MICRO21 will continue. The two instruments complement each other very well and they will be positioned accordingly at diversified segments of the market", says Yvonne Mårtensson, President and CEO of CellaVision AB. The establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary in the U.S. will facilitate and accelerate the process of establishing American partnerships. Having direct access to an established support network within the country will be a strong key factor in coming discussions with potential partners for sales and distribution of the CellaVision products. "The experience of TII combined with advanced software engineering competence of CellaVision will definitely be a winning concept", says Yvonne Mårtensson. For further information please contact: Yvonne Mårtensson, CEO, CellaVision AB, Phone: +46 (0)46-286 4401, +46 (0)708-33 77 82, yvonne.martensson@cellavision.se CellaVision AB is a young high-tech company whose core competence is the development of software for automatic image analysis of cells and cell permutations, with applications in the health care sector. The company represents cutting-edge competence in image processing, image analysis and automated microscopy. CellaVision currently markets two products: DiffMastertm and CellAtlastm. Both are based on CellaVision's cell databases and are tools to facilitate cell analysis and diagnosis. Most of the company's 50 employees today work with software development. Further information is available at www.cellavision.com DiffMastertm locates, identifies and preclassifies blood cells by means of automatic microscopy and advanced image processing. The microscope is connected to a computer equipped with software based on a large cell database. The software controls the microscope and a camera that finds and photographs images of blood cells, then suggests classifications of the cell types, currently 15 types. In most cases, the operator merely confirms the classifications, and can focus on borderline classifications. Since the messages can be transmitted electronically comparisons are simplified and third parties may be consulted. MICRO21 is an instrument functionally similar to the DiffMaster. It has a more advanced slide handling system, making it well suited for larger laboratories. MICRO21 is used by more than 50 laboratories, most of them hospital laboratories in the U.S. * Last November, Sysmex signed a Letter of Intent regarding distribution of CellaVision's products in selected countries, starting with Germany. * CellaVision recently received FDA approval (from the Food and Drug Administration in the USA) to sell DiffMastertm Octavia in the U.S. * CellaVision has sold its first DiffMastertm. Malmö University Hospital (MAS) has decided to install CellaVision's system for digital image processing of blood cells at its clinical chemical laboratory. The laboratory will become a strategic partner to CellaVision for further development of the system. * During the spring of 2001 CellaVision reached an agreement concerning distribution of CellaVision's product DiffMastertm on the German market. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/06/20010806BIT00180/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/06/20010806BIT00180/bit0001.pdf