Theragenics Corporation Establishes New Product Development Team

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Theragenics Corporation (NYSE: TGX), a medical device company serving the surgical products and prostate cancer treatment markets, today announced the hiring of Mr. Yem Chin as its Lead Product Development Engineer. Mr. Chin and his team will spearhead Theragenics’ new R&D “pipeline project.” The R&D team also includes Mr. Tom Johnson and Mr. Paul Scopton. Mr. Chin and the R&D team are charged with creating a pipeline of medical devices and sophisticated development services to support customers of the Company’s surgical products business segment. Mr. Chin has 40 years experience in medical device product development, including 28 years with Boston Scientific Corporation. He has been responsible for and supported developing products in the fields of interventional radiology, urology, gastro interventional, and cardiology. Mr. Chin holds over 50 patents related to medical devices.

The new R&D team will be supported by the entire asset base of Theragenics Corporation. Included in this asset base are the diverse processes and capabilities of Galt Medical, NeedleTech Products and CP Medical. These companies, which were acquired by Theragenics beginning in May 2005, comprise Theragenics’ surgical products business segment. This segment offers vascular access devices, specialty needle devices and wound closure products with applications in, among other areas, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental, urology, veterinary, pain management, endoscopy, and spine. The team began operations October 1, 2008 in space leased near Boston, Massachusetts and is already working on, and is available to work on, products for all of the Company’s customers.

Ms. M. Christine Jacobs, Chairman and CEO commented, “We are fortunate to be able to attract product development engineers the caliber of Mr. Chin and his colleagues. We look forward to providing the customers of our surgical products business with an increased level of product development and speed to market.”

Tom Johnson has 35 years experience in the medical device industry. He has recently worked for Creganna Medical and has expertise in extrusion, mold design, process development and project management. Mr. Johnson holds over 20 patents to his credit.

Paul Scopton has 28 years experience in the medical device industry developing disposable interventional devices for use in interventional radiology, urology, endoscopy, and cardiology. Mr. Scopton has over 20 product launches and holds 5 patents to his credit.

Ms. Jacobs continued her comments, “Our recent acquisition of NeedleTech expanded our product offerings and our customer base of top tier medical device manufacturers. The addition of NeedleTech further accentuated an opportunity to more fully address the unmet needs of our customers. With a combined 103 years of medical device product and process development, we feel our new group is up to this task.”

Ms. Jacobs concluded, “With a focus on vascular access, specialty needles and wound closure markets, our new team provides significant development expertise that can offer our customers access to services they may lack, helping them to expedite line expansion. This R&D group will support our entire asset base and our dedication to high quality, U.S-based, medical device manufacturing. It is not our intent to compete with our customers. Instead, we intend to feed our manufacturing base with new product opportunities and growth. Mr. Chin and his colleagues, together with NeedleTech, Galt Medical, and CP Medical, give us this capability, supporting sustainable long-term growth in our surgical products segment.”

Theragenics Corporation (NYSE: TGX) operates two business segments: its surgical products business and its brachytherapy seed business. Its surgical products business (www.cpmedical.com, www.galtmedical.com, www.needletech.com) manufactures and distributes wound closure, vascular access, and specialty needle products. Wound closure products include sutures, needles and other surgical products. Vascular access includes introducers, guidewires and related products. Specialty needles include coaxial, biopsy, spinal and disposable veress needles, access trocars, and other needle based products. The Company’s surgical products segment serves a number of markets and applications, including, among other areas, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental, urology, veterinary, pain management, endoscopy, and spine. The Company’s brachytherapy business manufactures and markets its premier product, the palladium-103 TheraSeed® device (www.theraseed.com) and I-Seed, an iodine-125 based device, which are used primarily in the minimally invasive treatment of localized prostate cancer. For additional information, call Theragenics’ Investor Relations Department at (800) 998-8479 or visit www.theragenics.com.

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding future growth, opportunities and investments, and anticipated positive results in general. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including, among other things, uncertainties related to the integration of acquired companies into the Theragenics organization, capitalization on opportunities for growth within the Surgical Products business, ability to recognize value from areas of shared expertise, risks and uncertainties related to competition within the medical device industry, development and growth of new applications within the markets for wound closure, vascular access, specialty needles and, more broadly, medical devices, competition from other companies within the wound closure, vascular access, specialty needle and medical device markets, competition from other methods of treatment, new product development cycles, effectiveness and execution of marketing and sales programs, changes in product pricing, changes in costs of materials used in production processes, continued acceptance and demand of the Company’s products by the markets in which it operates, introduction and/or availability of competitive products by others, potential changes in third-party reimbursement, including Medicare reimbursement as administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), implementation of the new legislation by CMS, physician training, third-party distribution agreements, ability to execute on acquisition opportunities on favorable terms and successfully integrate any acquisitions, and other factors set forth from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

All forward looking statements and cautionary statements included in this document are made as of the date hereof based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statement or cautionary statement.

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