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SANUWAVE Health Granted U.S. Patent on Use of Piezoelectric Fibers to Produce Acoustic Energy in the Shock Wave Spectrum
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Alpharetta, GA -- SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (OTCBB: SNWV) (www.sanuwave.com), an emerging medical technology company focused on regenerative medicine, reports that U.S. patent 7,867,178 entitled "Apparatus for Generating Shock Waves with Piezoelectric Fibers Integrated in a Composite" was issued to the Company earlier this month. The patent provides the Company exclusive rights for human and animal treatment devices that use piezoelectric fibers to produce acoustic energy in the shock wave spectrum. The Company received similar rights in Europe last year through the granting of European patent EP 1,452,141 entitled "Shock Wave Generating Device.”
Piezoelectric fibers change shape in response to positive and negative voltage, thereby displacing fluid and producing a shock wave. In the case of SANUWAVE’s PACE™ technology, this rapid shape change of the fibers, or vibration, produces high-energy acoustic waves that travel outward from the source into bodily tissue.
Piezoelectric fiber technology creates a small, easily targeted focal volume of energy. This allows PACE™ to focus the energy to a precise point in the targeted tissue while minimizing exposure to surrounding tissue. Piezoelectric fibers can be tightly assembled to any geometric shape, providing the Company with maximum flexibility in product design and permitting development of a wide variety of applicator sizes and shapes to focus the energy at virtually any point within the body – from superficial to deep.
Christopher M. Cashman, President and CEO of SANUWAVE, said, “This patent provides a significant competitive advantage for our PACE™ technology in the U.S. The small size of the piezoelectric fibers will allow us to miniaturize the treatment applicator, which will improve its applicability, ease of use, ergonomics and even disposability. These benefits along with the improved targeting ability of piezoelectric fiber technology will allow us to develop new protocols and initiate research for promising next generation applications, such as cardiac care and orthopedic spine.”
About PACE™
PACE™, defined as Pulsed Acoustic Cellular Expression, delivers high-energy acoustic pressure waves to produce compressive and tensile stresses on cells and tissue structures to promote angiogenic and positive inflammatory responses, and quickly initiate the healing cascade. This results in revascularization and microcirculatory improvement, including the production of angiogenic growth factors, enhanced new blood vessel formation (angiogenesis), and the subsequent regeneration of tissue such as skin, musculoskeletal and vascular structures. PACE™ treatment triggers the initiation of an accelerated inflammatory response that speeds wounds into proliferation phases of healing and subsequently returns a chronic condition to an acute condition to help re-initiate the body’s own healing response.
About SANUWAVE Health, Inc.
SANUWAVE Health, Inc. (www.sanuwave.com) is an emerging regenerative medicine company focused on the development and commercialization of non-invasive, biological response-activating devices for the repair and regeneration of tissue, musculoskeletal and vascular structures. SANUWAVE’s portfolio of products and product candidates activate biologic signaling and angiogenic responses, including new vascularization and microcirculatory improvement, helping to restore the body’s normal healing processes and regeneration. SANUWAVE intends to apply its PACE™ technology in wound healing, orthopedic/spine, plastic/cosmetic and cardiac conditions. Its lead product candidate for the global wound care market, dermaPACE™, is CE marked for treatment of the skin and subcutaneous soft tissue and recently completed its pivotal Phase III, Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) trial in the U.S. for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. SANUWAVE researches, designs, manufactures, markets and services its products worldwide, and believes it has demonstrated that this technology is safe and effective in stimulating healing in chronic conditions of the foot (plantar fasciitis) and the elbow (lateral epicondylitis) through its U.S. Class III PMA approved Ossatron® device, as well as stimulating bone and chronic tendonitis regeneration in the musculoskeletal environment through the utilization of its Ossatron®, Evotron™ and recently introduced orthoPACE™ devices in Europe.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to financial results and plans for future business development activities, and are thus prospective. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s ability to control. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Among the key risks, assumptions and factors that may affect operating results, performance and financial condition are risks associated with the marketing of the Company’s product candidates and products, unproven pre-clinical and clinical development activities, regulatory oversight, the Company’s ability to manage its capital resource issues, competition, and the other factors discussed in detail in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
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