PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., May 2 -ONCURA, a global leader in the minimally invasive management of prostate cancer, and HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG), a leading health care group purchasing organization (GPO), announced today that ONCURA has been awarded a three-year contract to provide HPG members with a complete portfolio of prostate brachytherapy products. The three-year agreement will be effective from May 1, 2006 and offers HPG members access to a portfolio of Iodine-125 and Palladium-103 products.
"We are delighted that HPG has chosen to partner with ONCURA," said Andrew Bright, ONCURA's Vice President, Brachytherapy Americas. He added, "With HPG's commitment to providing superior patient care delivered through clinically recommended products and our dedicated and experienced brachytherapy team, we can increase the number of prostate cancer patients with access to this excellent curative option."
Since the early 1990s ONCURA and its predecessor Amersham have been committed to innovation in prostate brachytherapy. Products include the groundbreaking RAPID Strand(TM) which has benefited from extensive clinical experience and is the subject of peer reviewed publications that have demonstrated its clinical value. The launch of a pre-loaded version of RAPID Strand that can be tailored to each patient has allowed the assurance of this long-term clinical data to be offered to an even wider range of patients.
In addition to RAPID Strand, ONCURA offers HPG's membership OncoSeed, the original I-125 seed; benefiting from more clinical experience and long-term survival data than any other seed. RAPID Strand contains the same seed and benefits from the same long-term data. ONCURA also provides EchoSeed(TM), a unique product with enhanced clinical recognition features, as well as Prospera(R) Palladium-103 seeds.
About ONCURA
ONCURA was created through the merger of Amersham plc's (now GE Healthcare) brachytherapy business and Galil Medical Ltd's urology business. Galil is a subsidiary of Elron (ELRN). Headquartered in the United States, ONCURA operates as an independent business, with a major presence in the treatment of prostate cancer. ONCURA's International business is operated from its UK subsidiary. Please visit http://www.oncura.com for more information.
About HealthTrust
HealthTrust Purchasing Group (HPG), headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, is a group purchasing organization that supports not-for-profit and for-profit acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, alternate care sites, and physician practices. HPG is committed to obtaining the best price for clinically recommended products, ensuring their timely delivery and continuously evaluating and improving our services to the patients, physicians and clinicians we serve.
