IRVINE, Calif., March 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI),
the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion
pulse oximetry, today announced an agreement with Switzerland-based Schiller,
a leading European manufacturer and supplier of electrocardiographs,
spirometers, patient monitors and external defibrillators, to integrate the
Masimo Rainbow SET technology platform as the foundational technology of
choice for all their patient monitoring solutions worldwide.
Masimo Rainbow SET, an upgradeable noninvasive technology platform
featuring the accuracy and reliability of Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion
and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, is revolutionizing patient monitoring by
significantly expanding pulse oximetry's ability to capture, track and monitor
blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures. The first and
only technology platform capable of continuously and noninvasively measuring
total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen content (SpOC(TM)) (both pending FDA
clearance), in addition to carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO(TM)), methemoglobin
(SpMet(TM)), pleth variability index (PVI(TM)), oxyhemoglobin (SpO2),
perfusion index (PI) and pulse rate-Masimo Rainbow SET is helping to advance
patient safety and improve care worldwide.
"Our leading position in the world market is based on a history of
implementing new technologies and innovative first-class solutions that create
long-term value for our customers and their patients," said Schiller AG CEO,
Alfred Schiller. "Masimo understands the importance of cutting-edge
technologies in our market and has combined the most advanced noninvasive
technology and capabilities with the best user benefits available into a
technology platform that maximizes long-term value."
The ability to quickly and continuously measure SpHb, SpOC, SpMet, SpCO,
PVI, SpO2, PR, and PI noninvasively may help clinicians to save lives by more
rapidly diagnosing potentially life-threatening conditions, speeding treatment
decisions and improving patient outcomes. SpHb may make hemoglobin testing
quick, convenient and accessible to medical personnel in both acute and
outpatient settings -- enabling them to quickly identify conditions of anemia,
or blood loss. The availability of real-time continuous SpOC may help to
ensure optimal oxygen delivery in patients during rapidly-changing clinical
situations.
By continuously and noninvasively monitoring SpMet, clinicians can
accurately determine if drugs they are administering are causing
methemoglobinemia, which can lead to brain damage and even death. Similarly,
the ability to measure SpCO allows clinicians to detect elevated levels of
carboxyhemoglobin that can be caused by everything from desiccated soda lime
(known as "Monday Morning Phenomena"), or other poisons that can be introduced
during surgery, to smokers reporting for surgery with high SpCO values.
Increased SpCO compromises healing and may lead to death, while smokers with
residual elevated COHb at the time of anesthesia are at cardiac ischemic risk.
PVI provides clinicians with a continuous and noninvasive quantified
measurement of changes in the perfusion index -- indicating a change in a
patient's physiologic condition, which may compromise cardiac function and
affect systemic circulation -- with potential clinical applications for
noninvasive hypovolemia detection and fluid responsiveness monitoring.
"Establishing Masimo Rainbow SET as the technology engine for Schiller's
patient monitoring, emergency medicine and rescue solutions enables us to
provide a dynamic new set of clinical capabilities that expand the
physiological data and options available to clinicians and caregivers --
allowing them to better care for their patients," stated Dominik Doppler, VP,
Marketing, Sales and Business Development at Schiller. "This is a compelling
value proposition for the global healthcare market."
At the heart of Masimo Rainbow SET is the world's most accurate and
reliable pulse oximetry technology -- Masimo SET. More than 100 independent
and objective studies demonstrate that Masimo SET provides the most
trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most difficult
clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion.
Before the introduction of Masimo SET in 1995, pulse oximetry was reliable
only when patient conditions were ideal -- on motionless patients with strong
pulses and good perfusion. However, in the presence of patient motion, a weak
pulse or low perfusion, excessive false alarms reduced the value of
conventional pulse oximetry. Since then, Masimo SET Measure-Through Motion and
Low Perfusion pulse oximetry has made continuous, noninvasive monitoring by
pulse oximetry more reliable and clinically-relevant than ever before.
Joe E. Kiani, Chairman and CEO of Masimo, stated "Schiller has been a
long-term partner with us and was one of the early-adopters of Masimo SET
technology. Once again, as an early-adopter of Masimo Rainbow SET technology,
Schiller represents a growing global community of Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) who are embracing and standardizing to Masimo Rainbow SET
as the noninvasive patient monitoring technology of the future. They are
market leaders and global champions for innovation, patient safety and quality
of care who make the world safer for patients everywhere. We appreciate the
vision, leadership and commitment of Schiller and we are proud of our
partnership."
About Masimo
Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) develops innovative monitoring technologies that
significantly improve patient care -- helping solve "unsolvable" problems. In
1995, the company debuted Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse
oximetry, known as Masimo SET, and with it virtually eliminated false alarms
and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events. More
than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate Masimo SET provides the
most trustworthy SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most
difficult clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral
perfusion. In 2005, Masimo introduced Masimo Rainbow SET, a breakthrough
noninvasive blood constituent monitoring platform that can measure many blood
constituents that previously required invasive procedures. Rainbow SET
continuously and noninvasively measures total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen
content (SpOC(TM)) (both pending FDA clearance), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO(TM)),
methemoglobin (SpMet(TM)), and pleth variability index (PVI(TM)), in addition
to oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), perfusion index (PI) and pulse rate, allowing early
detection and treatment of potentially life-threatening conditions. Founded in
1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcomes and Reducing Cost
of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications."
Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at
http://www.masimo.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may include forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future
events affecting us and are subject to uncertainties and factors, all of which
are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, including:
risks related to our assumption that this agreement with Schiller and their
adoption of Masimo technology will serve to substantially increase revenues,
risks related to our assumption that Masimo's new noninvasive
measurements -- total hemoglobin (SpHb(TM)) and oxygen content (SpOC(TM)) --
will deliver a sufficient level of clinical improvement over alternative
hemoglobin testing capabilities to allow for rapid adoption of the technology
and risks related to our assumptions regarding the timing or commercial
availability of SpHb and SpOC, and will be timely cleared, if ever, by
appropriate regulatory bodies, as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk
Factors" section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
29, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2008.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking
statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove
correct. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-
looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We do not
undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking
statements or the risk factors contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 29, 2007, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the federal
securities laws.
Masimo, SET, Signal Extraction Technology, Improving Outcomes and Reducing
Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications,
Rainbow, SpHb, SpOC, SpCO, SpMet, PVI, Pulse CO-Oximetry and Pulse CO-Oximeter
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Masimo Corporation.
SOURCE Masimo
http://www.masimo.com