EDAP TMS S.A. Launches Educational HIFU Tours in Europe
07 March 2007 - 3:33AM
PR Newswire (US)
Ablatherm-HIFU Tours to Accelerate HIFU Adoption for Prostate
Cancer, Add New Users and Sites LYON, France, March 6
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EDAP TMS S.A. (NASDAQ:EDAP), the global
leader in High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment of
prostate cancer and the international leader in the development,
production, and distribution of a wide portfolio of minimally
invasive medical devices primarily for the treatment of urological
diseases announced the successful launch of its newest marketing
and education initiative, the HIFU Tour, in Germany, the largest
prostate cancer market in Europe. EDAP and the Ablatherm-HIFU
device are the most advanced HIFU technology in the world for
localized prostate cancer strongly backed by multicenter and peer
reviewed clinical publications. This position enables EDAP to take
the lead in educating physicians through local peer-to-peer
education and conversion seminars designed to introduce HIFU to
urologists and encourage doctors to commit to training on the
Ablatherm-HIFU device, the only device in HIFU shown to have high
success rates and low side effects independent of user bias. "These
HIFU Tours will occur in major European countries where EDAP is
presently making aggressive forays into marketing and education to
raise awareness of Ablatherm-HIFU as a key part of the urologist's
treatment offering for localized prostate cancer patients," said
Marc Oczachowski, Chief Operating Officer and director of the
company's marketing initiatives in Europe. "EDAP is the only HIFU
company worldwide to offer such compelling and clear clinical data
on techniques proven over more than a decade of use. As such, our
medical partners actively using HIFU are now supporting the full
marketing launch of Ablatherm-HIFU on a peer-to-peer education
basis. We are already seeing very strong interest on a larger scale
than at any time in the past. We are very excited about the
opportunity to secure more sites and users more quickly through
this strong support and our enhanced training programs." The HIFU
Tours bring together groups of urologists from a local area to meet
and discuss HIFU through presentations by regional expert users.
EDAP's HIFU Tour program delivers key messages to physicians
outlining the advantages of adding HIFU to the therapeutic options
offered to their patients. Ablatherm-HIFU demonstrates high success
rates, low side effects, preserves patient quality of life, and can
offer a solution to external beam radiation therapy failures where
patients previously had no other alternative. Physician benefits
include a quick learning curve, high repeatability and lower risk
through Ablatherm's robotized system. Also, urologists can retain
control of their patients by offering a new therapeutic option
instead of referring nonsurgical patients to radiotherapy. During
the HIFU Tour, EDAP details all options available to facilitate
access to the technology including referrals to a nearby Ablatherm
center, EDAP's industry leading Revenue Per Procedure program on a
dedicated or mobile basis, leasing, and equipment purchase. This
process is designed to accelerate the conversion of urologists and
general practitioners to the Ablatherm-HIFU encouraging increased
referral to nearby HIFU centers and faster adoption at centers
ideal for HIFU services. This should move Ablatherm-HIFU toward
standard of care status for localized prostate cancer. Through this
program, EDAP is able to address dozens of urologists
simultaneously in a peer environment demonstrating the strong
support of Ablatherm-HIFU as opposed to its prior one-on-one
conversion process. "Urologists and general practitioners are
receiving growing pressure from patients to investigate HIFU as a
choice in their therapeutic options," said Judith Johannsen,
General Manager of the company's German subsidiary. "Clearly EDAP's
patient outreach is succeeding and driving doctors to learn about
HIFU, then refer patients to a local center for therapy in the
proper cases. These HIFU Tours will not only seek to add centers,
but also increase the referral stream for these centers from
urologists and general practitioners in the surrounding community
who do not yet have HIFU in their own center." The tours have
received strong positive feedback already from participants in
Bremen, Berlin and Gottingen. Upcoming cities include Koln,
Stuttgart and Munchen to be completed by March 14. Doctors are
particularly focused on learning the proper indications for
referring a patient to HIFU and how to direct him to a nearby
center in Germany if the local hospital is not actively offering
HIFU. "Clearly the doctors attending these sessions now see HIFU as
an effective and attractive patient option that they need to begin
offering rapidly," said Johannsen. "EDAP's strong patient education
efforts are very clearly succeeding as the doctors attending had
many patients inquiring about HIFU, driving the practitioner to
learn more about Ablatherm and how to refer patients, if not
actively begin treating themselves, through EDAP's Revenue Per
Procedure opportunity in the future. EDAP is also bringing more
speakers on HIFU with many German university centers now fully
supporting HIFU as well as experienced urologists from all stages
of their careers who offer HIFU successfully. The German urology
community recognizes now HIFU is a key tool for them to retain and
treat successfully their nonsurgical patients as well as growing
interest in radiation failure patients where few options exist."
About EDAP TMS S.A. EDAP TMS S.A. develops and markets Ablatherm,
the most advanced and clinically proven choice for High Intensity
Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment of localized prostate cancer.
HIFU treatment is shown to be a minimally invasive and effective
treatment option with a low occurrence of side effects.
Ablatherm-HIFU is generally recommended for patients with localized
prostate cancer (stages T1-T2) who are not candidates for surgery
or who prefer an alternative option, or for patients who failed
radiotherapy treatment. The company is also developing this
technology for the potential treatment of certain other types of
tumors. EDAP TMS S.A. also produces and commercializes medical
equipment for treatment of urinary tract stones using
Extra-corporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy (ESWL). For more information
on the Company, contact Magnolia Investor Relations at (972)
801-4900, the Corporate Investor Relations Dept at +33 (0)4 78 26
40 46 or see the Company's Web sites at http://www.edap-tms.com/
and http://www.hifu-planet.com/ . In addition to historical
information, this press release contains forward-looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties. These include statements
regarding the Company's growth and expansion plans. Such statements
are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a
number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking
statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include, but
are not limited to, those described in the Company's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ablatherm-HIFU treatment is
in clinical trials but not yet FDA approved or marketed in the
United States. CONTACT: EDAP TMS S.A. Magnolia Investor Relations
Blandine Confort Matt Kreps +33 4 78 26 40 46 972 801 4900
DATASOURCE: EDAP TMS S.A. CONTACT: Blandine Confort of EDAP TMS
S.A., +33-4-78-26-40-46; or Matt Kreps of Magnolia Investor
Relations, +1-972-801-4900, for EDAP TMS S.A. Web site:
http://www.edap-tms.com/ http://www.hifu-planet.com/
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