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Eckert & Ziegler Cooperates with an Outpatient Brachytherapy Center

(Ad hoc press release)

Berlin, February 27, 2001. Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG announces a cooperation with one of the leading German private centres for low morbidity treatment of prostate cancer with low activity sources, so-called brachytherapy. This collaboration with Ambulantes Operationszentrum im Ullsteinhaus GmbH will consolidate the close contacts of the Berlin manufacturer of miniature radioactive sources (seeds) for permanent implants and positioning systems to the clinical community and enable the establishment of training facilities for Eckert & Ziegler's further expansion. The centre which is situated in Tempelhof, a district of Berlin, will be used in the future to train national and international teams of doctors as well as medical staff in order to become proficient with the brachytherapy treatment, the handling and the products of Eckert & Ziegler. "The treatment of prostate cancer with low activity seeds is considered to be a low morbidity procedure and is currently becoming the standard treatment for early stages of prostate cancer in the USA", explains Dr. Gunnar Mann, General Manager of Bebig GmbH, which is the subsidiary of Eckert & Ziegler in charge of the manufacturing and commercialisation of the seeds. "The advantage of permanent implantation is that the urethra and the erectile nerves are receiving low doses of irradiation, consequently typical side effects as incontinence and impotence are reduced. Since the treatment is normally an outpatient procedure, hospitalisation is not necessary thus decreasing general medical costs". The treatment is not yet well known in Germany and is only reimbursed upon request by the Health Insurance. Ambulantes Operationszentrum im Ullsteinhaus GmbH is one of the first in Germany to have provided this outpatient procedure. The centre was founded last year in April and the procedures are performed exclusively by highly trained and experienced doctors and medical staff. The Berlin based operation centre is performing a significant proportion of those prostate brachytherapy procedures, carried out as an outpatient procedure in Germany. The doctors at the centre are anticipating about 100 procedures for the year 2001 for which each patient will only remain half a day in the centre.

The Board of Directors