LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2006--Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:PST - News) announced today that The Institutional Review Board ("IRB") of Brigham and Women's Hospital, the teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, approved "The Bar Coded Sponge Study" to go live in patients mid-March in a collaboration with SurgiCount Medical, Inc., a PST wholly-owned subsidiary, and its product, the Safety-Sponge System(TM). The clinical optimization study, spearheaded by leading patient safety researcher and advocate Dr. Atul Gawande of Harvard Medical School, will study whether bar coded surgical sponges can significantly increase the safety of operations, specifically by (1) reducing discrepancies and miscounts, (2) reducing total staff time spent on sponge counting, and (3) reducing disruptions to the operating room as a system. The Company entered into the agreement with Brigham and Harvard in April 2005 to conduct a clinical trial. This study will take place concurrently with the preparations underway to roll out the company's patented Safety-Sponge(TM) System.
To read a full description of the trial, please go to:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/show/NCT00282750;jsessionid=3C46497A28EC4D476BB927CFC54D71C9?order=31
According to the agreement, Brigham and Women's Hospital will receive a non-exclusive license to use the Safety-Sponge(TM) System, while the company will own all technical innovations and other intellectual properties derived from the study. About Patient Safety Technologies, Inc.
Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (PST) is a holding company that owns assets in various businesses. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, SurgiCount Medical, Inc., is a developer and manufacturer of patient safety products and services. SurgiCount concentrates on surgical safety to support its patient safety device, the Safety-Sponge(TM) System. The Safety-Sponge System helps in reducing the number of retained sponges and towels in patients during surgical procedures and allows for faster and more accurate counting of surgical sponges. For more information on Patient Safety Technologies, Inc., please contact the company directly at 310-895-7750, or by email at info@patientsafetytechnologies.com or http://www.patientsafetytechnologies.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words such as Patient Safety Technologies "plans," "expects," "should," "believes," "anticipates" or words of similar import. Stockholders, potential investors and other readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are predictions based only on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause future events or results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain of those risks and uncertainties are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements are only made as of the date of this press release and Patient Safety Technologies does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
