Healthcare Industry News: intravascular temperature
News Release - May 29, 2008
Alsius Corporation Awarded Three-Year Agreement With Premier, Inc.
IRVINE, Calif., May 29 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Alsius Corporation (Nasdaq: ALUS ), the worldwide leader in intravascular temperature management (IVTM(TM)) therapies for critically ill patients, was awarded a three-year contract with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. to provide intravascular temperature management products to Premier's extensive network of hospitals."This is the fifth contract we have been awarded by a major hospital group purchasing organization in the U.S.," said Bill Worthen, president and chief executive officer of Alsius. "We are pleased that our temperature management solution was chosen by Premier and we look forward to working together to introduce our product offerings to its members."
The Premier healthcare alliance is a leading group purchasing organization that serves more than 2,000 hospitals in the United States. The agreement will be effective on July 1, 2008.
"Premier is committed to providing our members with systems and solutions that improve quality, safety, manage risk and reduce costs," said Mike Alkire, president of Premier Purchasing Partners.
About Alsius IVTM(TM)
Alsius IVTM consists of the CoolGard 3000®, Thermogard(TM) and Thermogard XP(TM) systems and a family of single-use catheters, including the Cool Line®, Icy®, Fortius® and Quattro(TM) catheters. The catheters are inserted into a major vein through a patient's neck or groin, and circulate cool or warm saline in a closed-loop through balloons that surround the catheters. This approach decreases or increases core temperature from the inside of the body out toward the exterior, allowing for significantly more rapid control of a patient's core body temperature, with greater efficiency and precision, compared to conventional external temperature management products such as cooling and warming blankets and ice packs.
About Alsius Corporation
Alsius, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is a medical device company that develops, manufactures and sells proprietary products to precisely control patient temperature in hospital critical care settings. Controlling body temperature, through cooling and warming, is becoming the standard of care for patients in select critical conditions and those undergoing a variety of surgical procedures. Alsius markets a comprehensive suite of catheter-based intravascular temperature management products that address the need for effective, accurate, easy-to-use and cost-effective control of body temperature in critical care patients. For more information, visit http://www.alsius.com.
About Premier Purchasing Partners
Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. is a subsidiary of Premier, Inc., the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. Serving more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals and nearly 50,000 other healthcare sites, the Premier healthcare alliance and its members are transforming healthcare together. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates one of the leading healthcare purchasing networks and the nation's most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information. A subsidiary operates one of the nation's largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups. A world leader in helping healthcare providers deliver dramatic improvements in care, Premier is working with the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Washington. For more information, visit http://www.premierinc.com.
Safe Harbor
This press release may contain statements regarding plans and expectations for the future that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. Such forward looking statements, based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Alsius' management, are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The information set forth herein should be read in light of such risks. Additional information concerning such risks and uncertainties are contained in Alsius' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be accessed electronically on the Securities and Exchange Commission website at http://www.sec.gov.
Source: Alsius
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