Drug Tariff Listing

Advanced Medical Solutions Grp PLC 18 December 2003 For Release: 7 am Thursday, 18 December, 2003 Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc Announces Drug Tariff listing of advanced woundcare products & strengthening of its UK Sales & Marketing infrastructure Winsford, UK: Advanced Medical Solutions (AIM: AMS), the global woundcare technology company, today announces that it has received Drug Tariff listing for a range of its advanced woundcare products, including its seaweed based alginate dressing which promotes fast wound healing and provides cosmetic benefits. These products will be sold directly into the National Health Service (NHS) through the Company's strengthened UK Sales and Marketing infrastructure. The Drug Tariff, which is updated monthly and compiled on behalf of the Department of Health for use by healthcare professionals throughout England and Wales, provides a catalogue of medical products which are known to be safe, good quality, appropriate for prescribing by a GP (or nurse) and cost effective. The NHS currently spends an estimated £100 million on advanced woundcare dressings per year of which a major contribution is attributable to products listed on the Drug Tariff. Drug Tariff listing allows AMS to sell its range of woundcare products directly into the NHS through the Group's MedLogic sales & marketing infrastructure, which was acquired in 2002. A key synergy of AMS' acquisition of MedLogic was to leverage its sales resource and relationships at various levels in the NHS to sell the AMS woundcare range. The Company will focus its direct selling efforts on providing a generic advanced woundcare range to the NHS whilst continuing to sell its differentiated woundcare products through its major partners under their leading brands. Following the receipt of CE mark approval for AMS' LiquiBandTM Surgical product, which was announced earlier this week, the MedLogic sales and marketing team has started selling LiquiBandTM Surgical into hospital operating theatres. The Drug Tariff listing announced today allows a further opportunity to leverage these relationships. Commenting on this announcement, Dr Don Evans, CEO of AMS stated: 'I am delighted that we have obtained Drug Tariff listing which opens up a new and exciting opportunity to exploit further our direct UK sales and marketing team. The recent success we have achieved in growing our UK tissue adhesives business indicates that advantage should be taken to broaden this approach to also include our advanced woundcare products. Over the last few years AMS has been heavily dependent on the commitment, focus and success of our partners to commercialise our technology and to deliver sales growth. Now AMS is able to increase its influence over its own sales activities and to decrease its dependence on these key partnerships. By interfacing directly with end users in our home market, we are in an ideal position to achieve customer driven innovation benefiting both AMS and our international partners in the future.' - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc Tel : +44 (0) 1606 545508 Don Evans, Chief Executive Mary Tavener, Finance Director www.admedsol.com Buchanan Communications Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000 Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson Notes to Editors: Advanced Medical Solutions is a leading company in the development and manufacture of products for the $15 billion global woundcare market. Founded in 1991 and currently quoted on AIM, Advanced Medical Solutions is focused on the design, development and manufacture of innovative and technologically advanced products for woundcare and other medical applications. In-house natural and synthetic polymer technology is used to provide advanced wound dressings based on the moist healing principle. AMS's resources ensure a unique position as a vertically integrated 'one stop shop' to provide all categories of moist wound healing products. The Company has the capability to move from product design and development through to production and delivery ready for distribution into customer markets. The acquisition of MedLogic in 2002 has brought AMS products and technology in cyanoacrylate based tissue adhesives and sealants sold direct to hospitals or through distributors. AMS's technology and products currently serve the majority of the key global markets with strategic partners including 3M, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Molnlycke Healthcare, Coloplast, Smith + Nephew and Beiersdorf. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange D MSCEAXAXFEDDFFE
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