Hudson, NH - November 20, 2000 - Atrium Medical Corporation is confident that it does not infringe any valid patents owned by Genzyme Corporation or Genzyme Surgical Products Corporation, contrary to the recent assertions made by Genzyme in their press releases and the lawsuit filed by Genzyme against Atrium last week.  Atrium, located in Hudson, NH, was quite surprised to learn of this complaint, which was brought to its attention first on the Internet.  Atrium has been a long-time competitor in the medical products field, including chest drainage products used for cardiovascular surgery.  The principal Atrium chest drain models cited in the suit have been on the market for more than 5 years.  One new model recently introduced by Atrium,  the Express Dry Control Chest Drain, is also cited in the complaint.

Atrium continues to experience great success as the “Number 1 best selling” chest drain company in the United States.  We pride ourselves in having spent over 15 years developing our state-of-the-art chest drainage technology, including product innovations used in today’s life-saving cardiac and thoracic surgery procedures.  During every phase of our research and development activities prior to the introduction of any new Atrium product, Atrium makes every effort to ensure we do not infringe upon any competitor’s valid patents.  It’s part of our “mission for excellence and quality”.

Atrium believes the litigation initiated by Genzyme is a response to Atrium’s success in the highly competitive cardiovascular marketplace.  Over the past several years, Genzyme’s Pleur-Evac chest drain products have steadily lost market share and profitability.  Atrium believes this may be due to several changing market conditions, including declining average selling prices for national account contracts, and strong competition from highly focused healthcare firms such as Atrium, who specialize in thoracic drainage for open heart surgery, thoracic surgery and chest trauma care.  Atrium believes Genzyme is trying to use the courts and the public media to redirect attention from the failure of the Pleur-Evac products division (now part of Genzyme Surgical Products Corporation) to reclaim its once dominant position in this highly specialized healthcare market segment.

This is the second time the Pleur-Evac products division has used this approach against Atrium.  In 1995, Atrium won a chest drain patent infringement lawsuit in Federal Court brought by Deknatel, Inc., which then owned the Pleur-Evac products division.  A jury not only found that Atrium did not infringe any Pleur-Evac product patents, but also that the patent claims were invalid.  We are equally confident of a successful outcome for Atrium in this case as well.