ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2005--Smiths Medical MD, Inc. was awarded a 3-year contract by Premier Purchasing Partners, LP to offer Smiths Medical TruFlow(R) Hemodialysis Catheters to nearly 200 Premier hospitals and health care systems comprised of more than 1,500 hospital facilities in the United States. Renal (kidney) failure affects more than 2 out of 1,000 people in the United States every year. With diabetes and hypertension as the two leading causes of renal failure, it is growing at a rate between 7 and 9 percent per year. Patients with renal failure must undergo dialysis treatments several times a week where their blood is circulated through a dialysis machine where harmful toxins are removed. The patient’s blood can be sent to the dialysis machine through a graft, fistula, or catheter.
