Eckert & Ziegler Stops Clinical Development of SpondylAT®

(Ad hoc press release)

Berlin, 20 December 2006. The Executive Board of Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE0005659700) has decided today not to continue clinical development of the rheumatism drug SpondylAT®, and to close the complete project by the end of the 2006 business year. The expected 2006 result for the Pankow-based medical technology company is thus reduced from 0.80 EUR to approximately 0.75 EUR per share.

The decisive factor in this decision derives from the latest talks with representatives of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), who will only approve clinical testing for SpondylAT® under exceptionally strict conditions and for a small number of applications. SpondylAT® was authorized a few years ago by the BfArM provided that a clinical study be submitted by the end of 2005 with a high level of evidence to confirm the long years of good experience with this rheumatism medication. Altmann GmbH, the producer and owner of SpondylAT® based in Lower Saxony, missed the deadline to submit the study and sold the rights to the drug to Eckert & Ziegler before authorization was retracted. Eckert & Ziegler then made every effort to arrange for clinical trials on a short-term basis and thus renew the authorization process.

In the latest talks with authorities it then turned out that new clinical trials for SpondylAT® would not benefit from the previous authorization bonus, but instead would be burdened with prohibitive conditions. For this reason, the Board has decided to discontinue the project and to write off all development expenses this year for a reduction in profit, including the loan extended to the Altmann company.

Eckert & Ziegler is a globally active specialist for radiation applications in medicine, science and industry. Its main areas of activity are cancer therapy, nuclear medical diagnostics and measurement technology. Listed on the Frankfurt Prime Standard (ISIN DE0005659700), the Group is headquartered in Berlin-Buch and has approximately 300 employees. In addition to sites in Germany, it has subsidiaries in Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Prague, Paris, Milan and Chennai (India).

The Board of Directors