Healthcare Industry News:  injector system 

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 News Release - October 7, 2008

ACIST Medical Systems Announces the Opening of Its New Expanded Corporate Headquarters in Eden Prairie, MN

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Oct. 7 -- (Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network) -- ACIST Medical Systems, Inc., today announced the grand opening of its new 75,000 square foot, expanded corporate Headquarters and manufacturing facility in Eden Prairie, MN. The First Lady Mary Pawlenty and Eden Prairie Mayor Phil Young will join Fulvio Renoldi Bracco, Chairman and CEO of ACIST, for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the company's new facilities. ACIST Medical Systems, a Bracco Group company, is a world leader in contrast delivery systems providing innovative solutions for diagnostic and therapeutic imaging procedures. ACIST's advanced systems are widely proven in the global health care arena, with clinical usage in over 40 countries and in many world-renowned centers, as well as in community hospitals and university settings.

"As a fast growing, advanced medical technology company, our new corporate facility in Eden Prairie was designed to create an overall positive environment for our employees; one that promotes teamwork, creativity and fosters innovation," Fulvio Renoldi Bracco said. "ACIST is dedicated to advancing the science of contrast imaging through research and development of new products and technologies. Our state-of-the-art research labs and engineering tools, together with our high performing and skilled employees, will allow us to develop new medical devices that enable clinicians to provide the best patient care possible. Through the Bracco Group, ACIST is investing over the next three years approximately $120 million in the development of highly advanced imaging and minimally invasive technologies for the marketplace," he added.

"ACIST Medical Systems is a strategic Company for the Bracco Group," said Group President and CEO Diana Bracco, "through which we operate in a highly competitive, fast growing segment of the Healthcare field. We aim to position the Bracco Group as a worldwide provider of solutions for the prevention and diagnosis of diseases, leveraging on our know how and expertise in the medical imaging, advanced medical devices and diagnostic services management. But most of all," she added, "we must be proud to operate in a sector which is crucial for the welfare of people. "

"It is very exciting to celebrate a company that represents our State's innovation and talent," First Lady Mary Pawlenty said. "Every day ACIST products are helping to save lives around the world with its advanced technology. But it all originates in Eden Prairie with some of the best and brightest people of our great State," she added.

ACIST Medical Systems was founded in 1991 by an interventional cardiologist from the University of Minnesota. In 1998, ACIST delivered the world's first variable-rate contrast injection system for cardiovascular angiography and in 2001, ACIST was acquired by the Bracco Group. Since that time, ACIST has grown from a small Minnesota based medical device company with 50 employees to a thriving medical device technology company, directly employing over 135 people locally and over 220 worldwide, with regional offices in Europe and Asia, including Japan and China.

More than 4.5 million people around the world have had cardiovascular angiographic procedures using an ACIST system. Today, over one million people a year have a procedure with an ACIST product and that number is growing. In connection with Bracco Diagnostic Inc.'s merger with E-Z-EM, Inc. in April of this year, ACIST acquired certain assets of E-Z-EM related to its award winning contrast delivery system. The combination of the E-Z-EM Empower line of injector systems which are designed for CT and MRI procedures and focus on radiology with ACIST's variable rate contrast delivery system designed for the cardiologist has helped to create a leading global provider of contrast delivery solutions for the imaging field. Also earlier in the year, ACIST received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award.

R&D departments, engineering laboratories, manufacturing, technical and customer service, joined with other corporate functions, are all performed from the new campus in support of the marketplace. The new expanded facility was driven by ACIST's consistent growth in the market resulting from its strong history of innovation.

About ACIST

ACIST Medical Systems, a Bracco Group company, is a pioneer and market leader of Advanced Contrast Imaging System Technology in the fields of cardiology and radiology with a global clinical presence in over 40 countries. ACIST Medical Systems directly employs over 220 people worldwide, with the majority located at its corporate headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Two other regional offices in Europe and Asia further coordinate local sales and system activities.

About the Bracco Group

ACIST is part of the Bracco Group, founded in 1927 and today a worldwide integrated Healthcare Group, with annual turnover of more than 900 million Euro -- around 60% of which is from foreign sales. Bracco is present in approx. 80 countries both directly and through joint-ventures or Affiliates, and currently employs more than 2,300 people worldwide, over 300 of which are dedicated to R&D, Medical and Regulatory Affairs.

Bracco S.p.A., the holding company of the Bracco Group, also markets Ethical and Over The Counter pharmaceutical products in Italy, and through Bracco Imaging, one of the world leading companies in the imaging agent business, develops, manufactures, and markets diagnostic imaging agents and solutions that meet medical needs and facilitate clinical solutions. Furthermore, the Bracco Group offers diagnosis services through the Milan-based Centro Diagnostico Italiano (Italian Diagnostic Center).


Source: ACIST Medical Systems

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