Harvest Technologies Signs Licensing Agreement With DePuy AcroMed to Distribute SmartPReP(TM) Platelet Concentrate System

    NORWELL, Mass., July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest(R) Technologies
 Corporation, announced today that it signed a licensing agreement with DePuy
 AcroMed, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.  The agreement provides DePuy
 AcroMed with exclusive rights for distribution in the U.S., Canada and Latin
 American of Harvest's SmartPReP(TM) Platelet Concentrate System in the
 orthobiologics market, and an exclusive 18 month option for Europe and Asia.
     Harvest's SmartPReP technology represents a significant advance in the
 hemobiologic industry. Using a patient's own blood during surgery, SmartPReP
 harvests and concentrates platelet-rich plasma by separating and removing the
 platelets, which contain naturally occurring growth factors and proteins. The
 SmartPReP(TM) system concentrates the platelets and makes them available to
 the doctor for diagnosis at the point-of-care. Additionally, the SmartPReP
 Platelet Concentrate System is fast and easy to use and requires only a small
 blood sample to produce consistently high levels of platelet concentrate.
 Clinical studies will soon be initiated to investigate SmartPReP's ability to
 stimulate the body's repair mechanisms and enhance wound healing and bone
 growth.
     "Our alliance with DePuy AcroMed gives Harvest access to an extremely
 strong marketing organization in the rapidly growing spine and orthopedic
 markets, states Gary Tureski, co-founder and president of Harvest Technologies
 Corporation. "It also allows Harvest to focus its resources on developing non-
 orthopedic soft tissue markets in Plastic, ENT, Cardiovascular, Oral Surgery
 and in the Acute Wound Care markets.
      "First and foremost, this technology affords patients a new and safe
 choice while undergoing surgical procedures," states Earl R. Fender, president
 of DePuy AcroMed, Inc.  "It also serves as a key platform for our company's
 future growth in the orthobiologics market."
     Preliminary distribution activities are already underway across the United
 States and physicians are expressing their enthusiasm for the system's safety
 factors and cost efficiencies as well as the technology's future
 possibilities.  A national release is planned for later this year.
     Harvest Technologies Corporation designs, develops and markets unique
 systems that target the demand for surgical solutions using the patient's own
 blood.
     DePuy AcroMed, a Johnson & Johnson company, is based in Raynham,
 Massachusetts. The company is a spinal industry leader focused on the design,
 development, manufacturing and marketing of spinal products used by
 orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons worldwide.
 
 

SOURCE  Harvest Technologies Corporation