EU council directive 2010/32/EU for the prevention of sharp injuries now in force as from May 11, 2013

The directive, which was implemented on 11 May 2013, calls for increased operator safety when handling sharp devices. To ensure compliance, sharp devices must incorporate safety-engineered protection mechanisms, and hospitals are required to implement procedures for the safe use and disposal of medical sharps.

Studies indicate that around 1 million needlestick injuries occur annually among Europe´s 3.5 million healthcare workers. While only a small number will lead to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or HIV, which are the most well-known of the 30 or so known blood-borne diseases, infections can take months to be diagnosed. That means healthcare workers often have to endure weeks of anxiety, undergoing blood tests and the unpleasant side-effects of antiviral drugs. Apart from indirect costs like loss of income, studies indicate that direct costs for medical evaluation and follow-up of an accidental needlestick range from 200 to 1,200 US dollars. According to industry reports, costs for treating accidental needlesticks exceed  3 billion US dollars in the USA alone.

Vigmed offers innovative solutions to eliminate needlestick injuries. This is accomplished by delivering high quality and cost-effective products, designed to fulfill the needs of the users. Vigmed’s unique and patented products will be available in selected European markets as from December 2013. For further information see www.vigmed.com.

For additional information, contact:
Chairman of the board Lennart Holm (+46 70 630 8562) or CEO Finn Ketler (+45 21 54 6408)

Vigmed is a Swedish medical device company with the goal to offer the market unique needlestick protected devices for injection, infusion and blood sampling. Vigmed is headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden, and has for the moment approximately 10 employees. Vigmed’s share is traded on NASDAQ OMX First North in Stockholm (ticker VIG) and has approximately  5 400 shareholders. Remium Nordic AB is the Companys Certified Advisor. Additional information such as company description, a video presentation and risk factors can be found on Vigmed’s home page: www.vigmed.com