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500th Patient of Prostate Cancer to be Cured with BEBIG Seeds in the Institut Curie

Berlin, 25.11.2002. The Institut Curie, Paris, the leading french research and therapy center for cancer treatment will treat it's 500th patient of prostate cancer with BEBIG seeds tomorrow. The new treatment which is caracterized by a high efficiency and especially low side effects uses millimeter sized, low radioactive implants. These implants are produced by the Berlin based company BEBIG Isotopen- und Medizintechnik GmbH, a subsidiary of Eckert & Ziegler AG (WKN 565 970).

Brachytherapy involves the precise placement of very small, low activity seeds into the prostate gland. The procedure can be performed on an outpatient basis and is less traumatic for the patient. As the seeds radiate only few millimeters around themselves and as their half-life-period is relatively short they can remain permanently in the prostate. Long term results of this therapy, which is already a well established treatment modality in the US, show that in most instances patients with localized prostate cancer have similiar cure rates with fewer side effects than other modalities.

Prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer among men. In Europe 135.000 men are afflicted annually by this kind of cancer. In the US 30% of the prostate cancer patients are treated with brachytherapy.

The Institut Curie (www.curie.fr) is a private foundation, of recognized public utility since 1921, which has 1500 employees working in two areas of activity: The Research Center, composed of 12 units associated with CNRS or the INSERM, is dedicated to basic research in oncology and the hospital which is dedicated to cancer diagnosis and treatment, attending 7500 new patients each year.

The Board of Directors