Nobel Biocare starts coop with Japanese distributor

Nobel Biocare to strengthen its market activities in Japan - starts cooperation with Japanese distributor Nobel Biocare has signed an agreement with the Japanese company Wada Precision Dental Laboratories Co., Ltd for the distribution of Brånemark System® dental implants in Japan. The cooperation will start 1 January 2000. The goal with this agreement is to quickly reach out with Brånemark System to a large number of dentists on the Japanese market. This will be handled through Nobel Biocare's own subsidiary Nobel Biocare Japan Inc. in cooperation with Wada's large sales force. Today it is estimated that only 5-6,000 of Japans' 75,000 dentists work with dental implants and the market has a lower penetration for dental implants than USA and Europe. - Japan is the world's third largest dental market in the world and a very important market for Nobel Biocare's future growth. Brånemark System is well established among universities and specialists but penetration among general practitioners is still low. Through Wada's comprehensive contacts with the general practitioners we will increase our presence substantially. Our goal is to increase the customer base with 1,000 dentists a year and to reach an annual sales growth of at least 20%, says Carsten Browall, Executive Vice President of Nobel Biocare. Wada is a privately owned company with 700 employees. The company's 130 sales people work with direct sales of Wada's own products to general practitioners nation wide and will in addition represent Brånemark System. Wada represents no other products or companies. Nobel Biocare's other implant system Steri-Oss will continue to be distributed by the Japanese distributor, Yoshida. . Göteborg 1999-09-22 NOBEL BIOCARE AB Further information is available from: Carsten Browall, Executive Vice President, Nobel Biocare AB, telephone +46 031 - 81 88 00. Nobel Biocare is an innovative, medical devices company, whose core business comprises dental implants and dental prosthetics. The company's product ® ® systems for dental implants, Brånemark System and Steri-Oss , are world leaders and have a global market share of around 40%. ® The company's other product line, Procera , is a unique, patented CAD/CAM- based process for the industrial production of dental prosthetics. The system has been launched very successfully in North America and Europe. Nobel Biocare has around 1,000 employees and, in 1998, turnover totalled SEK 1,310 million The company's headquarters are located in Gothenburg, Sweden, while production takes place in Sweden and the USA. Nobel Biocare has its own sales companies in some 20 countries. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/22/19990922BIT00190/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/22/19990922BIT00190/bit0002.pdf