Q-Med launching new product to treat incontinence

New product to treat incontinence approved Q-MED is launching Deflux - a new product for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. One out of three Swedish women over the age of 50 has a problem with urinary incontinence. Very few are treated for their problems. Now many more women can be given effective and safe treatment, and 80 per cent of them can be cured or achieve considerable improvement. Urinary incontinence is a very common condition. It is estimated that 500 000 people suffer from some form of urinary incontinence in Sweden. Those affected consider it to be a great physical and psychological handicap. Most of those affected, however, do not seek help for their complaint. This may be because they are embarrassed and do not want to talk about their incontinence or because they do not know that there are effective methods of treatment. The costs to society are estimated to be more than SEK 2.5 billion per year and the vast majority of this sum is constituted by costs for aids such as nappies and sanitary towels. The most common form of urinary incontinence is called stress urinary incontinence. This means that involuntary leakage occurs in connection with physical effort, coughing or even laughing. This type of complaint primarily affects women and becomes more and more common with increasing age. A Swedish study carried out recently shows that urinary incontinence is the health problem that troubles by far the most women over 60 years of age, but only a few per cent of them receive specific treatment for their complaint. The number of people in this age group is expected to increase by approximately 30 per cent up until the year 2010, and this makes it important to develop a quick, safe and cost-effective method of treatment. Q-MED has developed a new product - Deflux - which is a gel consisting of two different sugar substances. It is injected under the mucous membrane in the upper part of the urethra using the keyhole technique. In this way the tissue around the urethra can be supported, thus preventing leakage. The intervention is performed using an instrument, a so-called cystoscope, which is introduced through the urethra, and this can be carried out on an out-patients basis given a local anesthetic. It takes 10-15 minutes to perform and usually the patient can then go home. This makes it a simple and safe method of treatment for the patient, who will notice the effect of the treatment directly. Clinical trials that have been carried out using Deflux in recent years have shown that up to 80% of the patients treated can be cured or achieve considerable improvement. Deflux has also proved to be very safe and has not given rise to side effects. For several years now Deflux has also been tested for the treatment of small children with vesicoureteral reflux - a defect in the opening of the ureter in the wall of the urinary bladder - with great success. Deflux has now been approved for both indications in the EU. October 21, 1999 Per Olof Wallström President and Chief Executive Officer Queries should be addressed to: Per-Olof Wallström, President and Chief Executive Officer, on 018-474 90 00 or 070-974 90 70 Kjell Rensfeldt, Business Unit Director, Urology, on 018-474 90 00 or 070-974 90 75 Q-Med is a rapidly growing medical device company in Uppsala that develops, produces and sells non-animal hyaluronic acid based medical implants. All the products manufactured in-house by Q-Med are based on the company's patented technology for the production of NASHA - Non-Animal Stabilized Hyaluronic Acid. Q-Med is focused on aesthetics, osteoarthritis and urology. The company was founded in 1987 and today has a total of 100 employees, with 80 at Q-Med's production facility and head office in Uppsala and the remainder in wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. Q-Med AB (publ), Seminariegatan 21, SE-752 28 Uppsala, Sweden. Tel: +46(0)18-474 90 00. Fax: +46(0)18-474 90 01. Corporate identity number 556258-6882. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/21/19991020BIT00880/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/21/19991020BIT00880/bit0002.pdf