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| |  New Form Of Bone Density Test Successfully Performed CHICAGO, IL -- December 1, 1997 -- CompuMed, Inc. announced the successful completion of the first series of bone density tests ever performed with amorphous silicon filmless digital X-ray detection technology, last week. The amorphous silicon flat panel X-ray detection system has been developed and manufactured by Varian Associates, Inc. and Xerox Corporation. The bone images were taken at Varian's Ginzton Research Center in Palo Alto, CA. and computer-analyzed at CompuMed's Manhattan Beach, CA. headquarters. CompuMed has obtained worldwide exclusive rights to Varian's amorphous silicon technology in the fields of appendicular bone mass measurement and computer-assisted arthritis detection. CompuMed is utilizing the Varian technology in its new Digital OsteoView(R) 2000, the world's first device with a hardware and software platform capable of detecting both osteoporosis and arthritis. "As a diagnostician involved in the research and treatment of osteoporosis and arthritis, I am very excited about CompuMed's breakthrough in successfully performing bone density measurements with amorphous silicon filmless x-ray technology," said Michael Davis, M.D., D.Sc., professor of radiology and director of radiologic research at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. "We are now at the threshold of having a machine that just a few years ago seemed to be a dream, an instantaneous osteoporosis and arthritis detection and monitoring device that every physician can afford." Davis added since effective anti-osteoporosis medications are now available and several new anti-arthritis medications are in their final phases of testing, the need for this device is urgent. Amorphous silicon flat panel technology is already widely utilized as a display technology in active matrix laptop screens and cockpit displays. Its use as a detection technology is expected to revolutionize medical imaging by replacing X-ray film and expensive image intensifying tubes. Patient exposure to X-rays will be greatly reduced compared to images acquired with film and high-resolution images will be available instantly for analysis, viewing, image enhancement, transmission and archiving with the use of amorphous silicon technology. It is anticipated that the OsteoView 2000 will be available for sale in the second half of 1998, after the conclusion of clinical trials and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510k marketing clearance. The OsteoView 2000 is expected to play a key role in both the clinical validation and the widespread availability of several exciting new classes of pharmaceuticals that target various aspects of arthritis, as well as the identification and management of patients with low bone mass or osteoporosis.
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