AtCor Medical Holdings Limited Announces New $0.8 Million Pharmaceutical Clinical Trial Contracts

ITASCA, IL and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - April 15, 2009) - AtCor Medical (ASX: ACG) the developer and marketer of the SphygmoCor® system, which measures central blood pressures and arterial stiffness noninvasively, today announced that it has signed two new contracts to supply SphygmoCor systems and clinical trial support services to leading international pharmaceutical companies. These contracts are with existing clients and have a minimum value of $635,000 and $200,000 respectively. They bring the total value of US pharmaceutical clinical trials contracts secured over the past 10 months to $7.3 million.

Duncan Ross, AtCor Medical CEO, said, "These contracts from existing customers to support new clinical trials demonstrate the importance of noninvasive central blood pressure data in drug development and the high quality of the services we provide."

Central blood pressure assessment in clinical trials: vital to understand subject risk and drug effects

"The scientific literature shows how important it is to measure central blood pressure in clinical trials and in patient care," Ross continued. "The recently published Anglo Cardiff II study showed that many patients with controlled brachial blood pressure may have central pressure equivalent to patients with Stage One Hypertension. Many major independent studies, such as CAFE and Strong Heart, have shown that elevated central pressure is a superior predictor of cardiovascular events and that central blood pressure cannot be determined with brachial blood pressure measurements. So, to understand existing cardiovascular risk that may be present in subjects enrolled in trials and the risks and benefits of drugs in development, central blood pressures must be measured."

About AtCor Medical

AtCor Medical develops and markets products for the early detection of cardiovascular risk and management of cardiovascular disease. Its technology allows researchers and clinical to measure central blood pressure noninvasively. The company's SphygmoCor system visibly identifies the effects of reflected blood pressure in the central aortic pressure wave, effects that cannot be detected with standard blood pressure monitoring.

More than 1,800 SphygmoCor systems are currently in use worldwide at major medical and research institutions and in clinical trials with leading pharmaceutical companies. The company's technology has been featured in over 400 peer-reviewed studies published in leading medical journals. AtCor has operations in the United States, Australia, and Europe. For further information, please visit our web site at www.atcormedical.com.