For immediate release: 1 September 2011

 

Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc

(“AMS” or the “Company”)

 

Development and Pre-Supply Agreement signed with Surgical Innovations Group plc

 

Winsford, UK: Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc (AIM: AMS.L), the global medical technology company, today announces that it has signed a Development and Pre-Supply Agreement (“the Agreement”) with Surgical Innovations Group plc (“Surgical Innovations”) (AIM: SUN), for the development and supply of a novel device for internal application of adhesives and sealants.

 

Under the terms of the Agreement, Surgical Innovations will develop and retain the intellectual property rights for a unique applicator to deliver accurately, individual drops of adhesive or sealant internally within the body, accessed via a minimally invasive surgical port site. In return for the exclusive rights to this applicator for the internal application of adhesives and sealants, AMS has agreed to purchase all of its requirements for the approved new applicator from Surgical Innovations for a period of ten years.

 

The development of the internal applicator is a key step in extending the Company’s expertise in adhesives and sealants from purely topical applications to also addressing clinical needs inside the body. AMS has previously highlighted that the first target internal application would be the hernia mesh fixation market which is currently served by sutures, staples and tacks. This new internal applicator, together with the Company’s adhesives, will allow AMS to address this important market with reduced surgical complications.

 

Commenting on this announcement, Chris Meredith, Chief Executive Officer of AMS said:

 

“This agreement combines our formulation and regulatory expertise with Surgical Innovations’ applicator design and manufacturing expertise to introduce a new product to a global market for internal sealants that is now in excess of US$600 million. As we have previously indicated, an integral part of our tissue sealant and adhesives R&D is focused on moving our product range more towards the Operating Room, including internal applications. In this regard, we are optimistic that our partnership with Surgical Innovations will give us a market leading product, targeting the hernia mesh fixation market, which should be available for launch in 2013.”

 

Graham Bowland, Chief Executive Office of Surgical Innovations added:

 

“Our agreement with AMS affirms SI’s reputation in delivering leading design solutions to OEM customers. The applicator device for AMS is a natural extension to our existing minimally invasive surgical product portfolio and we have already commenced on the design work on a fully disposable device. As part of the agreement SI will retain the full intellectual property rights to the applicator device and will also manufacture it on behalf of AMS.”

 

– ends –

 

For further enquiries:

 

 

Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc                                                            +44 (0) 1606 545508

Chris Meredith, Chief Executive Officer

Mary Tavener, Finance Director

 

Tavistock Communications                                                                               +44 (0) 20 7920 3150

John West / Chris Munden / Andrew Dunn

 

Investec Bank plc                                                                                               +44 (0) 20 7597 5970

Gary Clarence / Patrick Robb / Daniel Adams

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

About Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc – see www.admedsol.com

 

Founded in 1991, AMS is a leading company in the development and manufacture of innovative and technologically advanced products for the US$15 billion global wound care market. These products are sold in countries across the globe either directly or through a number of strategic partners and distributors.

 

AMS’ advanced woundcare products are based on an extensive range of technologies including alginates, silver alginates and hydrophilic polyurethane foams. These and other products pioneer the concept of moist wound healing, allowing wounds to heal faster and with less pain and scarring. They protect the wound, deal with tissue fluids, provide an optimal environment for healing to occur and, in the case of silver alginates, include a safe and effective broad-spectrum anti-microbial agent for infection control.

 

AMS’ wound closure and sealants products are based on cyanoacrylate adhesive (“superglue”) technology developed for medical applications. Tissue adhesives offer significant benefits over conventional ways of closing wounds following trauma or surgical incision. They are simple to use, non-invasive, help to reduce the risk of infection, minimise trauma to the patient and provide good clinical and cosmetic outcomes. The technology is also ideally suited to protecting skin from breakdown or for use as a skin sealant to help prevent infection of surgical sites.

 

About Surgical Innovations Group plc – see www.surginno.com

 

Surgical Innovations Group plc specialises in the design and manufacture of innovative devices for use in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and industrial markets.  As well as manufacturing single-use and reusable instruments for the laparoscopic market, the Group has pioneered its flagship Resposable^® instrumentation combining both single use and reusable components, ensuring ongoing revenue streams and delivering the optimum procedure performance to cost ratio.

 

Over 130 people are employed at the Group’s 32,000 square feet facility in Leeds, with in-house design, plastic injection moulding and manufacturing equipment, producing products to the highest quality standards.

 

The Group’s patented products are sold through three main channels:

 

SI brand	Through an established network of 45 distribution partners, Surgical Innovations branded products are sold in all major medical markets including North America, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, South-east Asia and Australia.
OEM and IP	The Group supplies large medical device companies on an OEM basis, collecting sales fees as well as IP license and royalty fees.  Clients include Teleflex Medical, Olympus and CareFusion.
Industrial	SI’s patented segment technology has been applied to the industrial market enabling customers to undertake inspection and maintenance of large-scale equipment, such as turbines, in situ with minimum disassembly and downtime.