Welch Allyn Medical Products

Corporate Headquarters
4341 State Street Road
Skaneateles Falls, NY
13153-0220
USA

Tel: (800) 535-6663
Fax: (315) 685-4091

Welch Allyn website

Welch Allyn Establishes Strategic Partnership to Incorporate Masimo rainbow® SET Noninvasive Measurement Capabilities in Next-Generation Patient Monitors

Company will integrate Masimo's advanced Pulse CO-Oximetry technology into its new Connex® Vital Signs Monitor and future product releases

Skaneateles Falls, New York and Irvine, California – February 8, 2011 - Welch Allyn and Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) jointly announced today a new technology integration strategy that will make the Masimo rainbow® SET Pulse CO-Oximetry technology platform a strategic and fundamental offering in Welch Allyn's new product line-up—providing clinicians with a host of innovative new noninvasive, continuous measurements and patient monitoring capabilities. In addition, the unique upgradeability inherent within the rainbow SET technology platform, coupled with the flexibility and configurability of next-generation Welch Allyn patient monitors, will allow clinicians the option to remotely add Masimo's noninvasive and continuous measurements as optional software upgrades as the measurements become commercially available for use with the Welch Allyn patient monitor.

"Welch Allyn is excited to provide our customers with the option of enabling the Masimo parameters within our patient monitoring devices in a manner that considers their evolving needs over time," said Welch Allyn Executive Vice President and Chief Global Business Officer, Steve Meyer. "Masimo technology supports our platform concept of modularity and upgradeability while allowing customers to improve patient care through early, noninvasive continuous and spot check monitoring of key hemodynamic parameters."

Masimo rainbow SET noninvasive and continuous measurements—like total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOCTM), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), Pleth Variability Index (PVI®), and rainbow Acoustic Monitoring (RAM), in addition to Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion performance of Masimo SET® oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), perfusion index (PI), and pulse rate (PR)—provide detailed physiological data that helps clinicians to more rapidly assess patients and detect adverse conditions earlier. Pending regulatory clearance, Welch Allyn will announce the commercial availability of these rainbow SET parameters as they become legally available for use with its monitors.

Immediate availability of such detailed clinical intelligence and measurement data enables clinicians to proactively detect and treat the early signs of hemodynamic instability, potentially life-threatening conditions and internal bleeding sooner rather than reacting to late indicators and their deleterious effects.

The new Welch Allyn Connex® Vital Signs Monitor (CVSM) is the first Welch Allyn monitor to integrate the Masimo rainbow SET technology. The CVSM, which launched in August 2010, incorporates Masimo's SpO2-enabled measurements and is capable of being field upgraded to add rainbow SET-based measurements as each parameter becomes commercially available for use with the CVSM.

The CVSM is a full-color, touch screen device that acts as three devices in one—providing comprehensive patient documentation on a single display. This documentation includes automatic measurements such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and pulse oximetry; manual parameters such as respiration, height, weight and pain level; and modifiers such as body position, O2 therapy details and others. The device also gives the clinician the ability to control alarms, patient data and monitoring in a customized manner for each patient, and document the data right on the device—eliminating the need to locate a PC and transcribe it later.

Welch Allyn will offer customers the ability to remotely upgrade the device's software to add additional Masimo rainbow SET capabilities via the Web using the company's innovative PartnerConnect Remote Services solution. PartnerConnect is a feature of the Welch Allyn Partners in Care ServicesSM program that enables remote diagnostics of devices and systems. Software installations, updates, and upgrades can all be delivered and performed remotely. PartnerConnect also enables preemptive service capabilities on the Welch Allyn platform, allowing the Partners in Care Technical Support Center to remotely view devices and system configurations in real time via the Internet.

Masimo President of Worldwide OEM Business, Business Development, and Masimo Americas, Rick Fishel, stated, "Integrating industry-leading noninvasive and continuous monitoring technologies that offer point-of-care, cost-effective measurements and documentation is a growing trend in both continuous and spot-check patient monitors. The Welch Allyn Connex Vital Signs Monitor represents an innovative monitoring platform in many ways, including its point-of-care configurability, upgradeability, wireless EHR connectivity, and next-generation patient monitoring capabilities—all of which help clinicians meet the patient care challenges and clinical demands of today and tomorrow. We are proud of the positive impact our medical technology innovations have on patient care, safety, and clinical outcomes, and we are equally proud to be a key part of Welch Allyn's forward-looking patient monitoring technology strategy."

About Welch Allyn

Founded in 1915 and headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, NY (USA), Welch Allyn is a leading global provider of medical diagnostic equipment and a complete range of digital and connected solutions. With 2,600 employees working in 26 different countries, Welch Allyn specializes in helping doctors, nurses, and other frontline practitioners across the globe provide the best patient care by developing innovative products, breakthrough technologies, and cutting-edge solutions that help them see more patients, detect more conditions, and improve more lives. More information about Welch Allyn and its complete line of connected products and solutions may be found at www.welchallyn.com.