Hospira And Consorta Enhance Medication Management Partnership

LAKE FOREST, Ill., July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hospira , one of the largest hospital products manufacturers in the United States, and Consorta, Inc., a leading healthcare resource management and group purchasing organization, today announced an amendment to the companies' existing infusion therapy pump agreement. The amendment allows Consorta's more than 2,000 member healthcare facilities more flexible terms to access Hospira's medication management products -- including the Plum A+(R) infusion therapy system and Hospira MedNet(TM) drug library software. The current infusion pump contract is effective through Aug. 31, 2007.

Through the amendment, individual Consorta-member facilities will have the opportunity -- through Aug. 31, 2007 -- to sign multi-year agreements with Hospira for its infusion pump products, including the option to upgrade to the advanced Plum A+ and MedNet medication management products.

"Hospira is pleased to offer Consorta-member healthcare facilities greater opportunity to access our integrated medication management solutions," said John Arnott, senior vice president, Global Commercial Operations, Hospira. "This contract amendment supports Hospira and Consorta's shared commitment to providing high-quality medical products that help promote patient safety in the hospital."

"We look forward to continuing to work with Hospira," said Patrick McCarthy, director, Capital Equipment, Consorta. "This amendment gives additional access opportunities to Consorta-member facilities that currently use Hospira's Plum infusion therapy devices and provides the opportunity for upgrades to the more advanced Plum A+ with MedNet drug library software."

Hospira's devices account for nearly 70 percent of the infusion therapy pumps used by Consorta-member facilities. Plum A+ and MedNet -- the newest additions to Hospira's medication management portfolio -- work together to improve safety at the patient bedside and offer additional protection against medication errors. Medication errors are estimated to account for 7,000 deaths in the United States each year, with an associated economic burden of approximately $77 billion annually.

Plum A+ is an innovative infusion therapy pump used for electronic control of intravenous (I.V.) medication administration. The device helps hospital staff intercept and prevent errors through a therapy confirmation screen that requires a clinician to review and confirm dose, drug, concentration and weight before infusion begins, and a dose calculator that defaults to recommended units of concentration for the selected drugs.

MedNet supports caregiver confidence at the point of patient care, with features including rule set applications for 12 clinical care areas, a reference library for up to 1,200 drugs and priority listing of high-use drugs by each defined clinical care area. It is the only drug library software that offers both "soft" and "hard" dose- and rate-setting limits for both primary and secondary infusions. Soft limits, currently the industry standard, allow clinicians to manually override dose limits if they require delivery of a larger or smaller dose than recommended by their hospital's best-practice guidelines. Hard limits are dosing parameters set by the hospital that staff cannot manually override.

Financial details of the contract amendment were not disclosed. About Hospira

Hospira, Inc. is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company dedicated to Advancing Wellness(TM) by developing, manufacturing and marketing products that help improve the safety and efficacy of patient care. Created from the core global hospital products business of Abbott Laboratories, Hospira is a new company with 70 years of service to the hospital industry. The company's portfolio includes one of the industry's broadest lines of generic acute-care injectables, integrated solutions for medication management and infusion therapy, and a full-service contract manufacturing business. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., north of Chicago, Hospira has more than 14,000 employees and 15 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Hospira's news releases and other information can be found at http://www.hospira.com/.

About Consorta

Consorta, Inc., based in suburban Chicago, is a leading health care resource management and group purchasing organization, whose shareholders are faith-based or non-profit health systems. Consorta represents more than half of all Catholic hospitals in the United States. As a cooperative, Consorta's shareholders and participants share fully in the organization's bottom-line performance and have access to best-in-market product pricing as demonstrated through regular price audits. Consorta's shareholders are among the leading integrators of non-profit health care in America, sponsoring significant care providers in many parts of the country. The Consorta membership encompasses nearly 500 acute care facilities, representing 55,944 beds, and more than 1,800 non-acute care sites.

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - A Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Hospira cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect Hospira's operations and may cause actual results to be materially different from expectations include the risk and uncertainties set forth in the information statement under the heading "Risk Factors" in the most recent version of the Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are incorporated by reference. Hospira undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as the result of subsequent events or development.

CONTACT: Media, Tareta Adams, +1-224-212-2535, or Financial Community,Lynn McHugh, +1-224-212-2363, both of Hospira

Web site: http://www.hospira.com/