Masimo Initiates Limited Market Release of Pronto-7(TM) -- New Revolutionary Palm-sized Device for Noninvasive Hemoglobin Spot-Check Testing at the Point-of-Care

IRVINE, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI), the inventor of Rainbow Pulse CO-Oximetry™, Rainbow Acoustic Monitoring™, and Masimo SET® Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, today announced the international limited market release of Masimo Pronto-7 -- a new handheld device designed for quick and easy noninvasive hemoglobin (SpHb®) spot-check testing in virtually any environment.  As part of the limited market release, select physician offices, emergency medical services, blood donation centers, and hospitals in eligible countries outside of the United States will be the first to use and benefit from this new point-of-care blood testing capability.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100623/LA25373)

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Hemoglobin is one of the most commonly ordered tests in both hospital and non-hospital settings because it is critical to assessing anemia and blood loss. However, traditional lab testing requires a painful needle stick for the patient, time-consuming blood draws for the clinician, and typically provides delayed results.  The Pronto-7 represents a breakthrough solution for measuring hemoglobin in less than one minute -- without the needles, time-consuming laboratory analysis, risk of blood contamination, hazardous medical waste, and patient discomfort associated with traditional blood tests.  The Pronto-7 is also the first Masimo device to feature Rainbow 4D™ -- designed for fast and accurate spot-check SpHb measurements -- along with SpO2 and pulse rate -- even in low perfusion conditions.  

The palm-sized Masimo Pronto-7 -- with dimensions of just 13 cm x 7.2 cm x 2.5 cm (5.1" x 2.8" x 1") and weight of 296 grams (10.5 ounces) -- puts the power of noninvasive hemoglobin spot-check testing into any clinician's hands in almost any environment.  Because of the device's embedded 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth communication capability, wireless printing or emailing of test results is enabled and future upgrades will allow for wireless transmission to electronic health record (EHR) systems.

A low hemoglobin level is called anemia, a pervasive blood disorder that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), affects two billion people worldwide and causes one million deaths a year.  A top ten risk factor contributing to the global burden of disease, anemia results in lost cognitive function and productivity that costs $50 billion annually in gross domestic product (GDP) losses worldwide.  Anemia can be chronic or acute.  Chronic anemia is characterized by consistently low hemoglobin levels that can be the result of a diet deficiency or illness such as cancer.  Acute anemia is characterized by a sudden drop in hemoglobin levels that can result from internal or external bleeding due to surgery or trauma.  

Masimo Founder and CEO, Joe Kiani, stated: "The portable Pronto-7 device is a revolutionary new product that offers speed, functionality, simplicity, and accuracy in a completely noninvasive manner.  It's the perfect complement to existing Masimo Rainbow devices currently used in hospitals throughout the world to help clinicians continuously assess hemoglobin, detect internal bleeding, and aid in blood transfusion management.  We believe that the Pronto-7 will have significant appeal to clinicians whose patients don't require continuous hemoglobin monitoring, but do appreciate the immediate and noninvasive anytime/anywhere testing capability it offers."

With CE Marking and the international limited market release underway, the Pronto-7 can now be demonstrated and quoted by Masimo direct and distributor representatives in Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia, and South America.

About Masimo

Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) develops innovative monitoring technologies that significantly improve patient care -- helping solve "unsolvable" problems.  In 1995, the company debuted Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, known as Masimo SET®, which virtually eliminated false alarms and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events.  More than 100 independent and objective studies demonstrate Masimo SET provides the most reliable SpO2 and pulse rate measurements even under the most challenging clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion.  In 2005, Masimo introduced Masimo Rainbow SET® Pulse CO-Oximetry™, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures, including total hemoglobin (SpHb™), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), and PVI®, in addition to SpO2, pulse rate, and perfusion index (PI).  In 2009, Masimo introduced Masimo Rainbow SET® Acoustic Monitoring™, the first-ever noninvasive and continuous monitoring of acoustic respiration rate (RRa).  Masimo's Rainbow platform offers a breakthrough in patient safety by helping clinicians detect life-threatening conditions and helping guide treatment options.  Founded in 1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcomes and Reducing Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications." Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in connection with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: risks related to our assumption that Masimo noninvasive and continuous total hemoglobin (SpHb) will provide faster, easier and safer means for measuring total hemoglobin over alternative hemoglobin measurement methods, our belief that Masimo Pronto-7 enables clinicians to simply, quickly, and painlessly assess their patients' hemoglobin status on-the-spot to uncover hidden health dangers and potentially life-threatening conditions,  and our assumptions that the availability of Pronto-7 will lead to additional device sales, as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which may be obtained for free at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today's date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these forward-looking statements or the "Risk Factors" contained in our most recent reports filed with the SEC, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the applicable securities laws.

Masimo, SET, Signal Extraction Technology, Improving Outcomes and Reducing Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications, Rainbow, SpHb, SpOC, SpCO, SpMet, PVI, RRa, Radical-7, Rad-87, Rad-57, Rad-9, Rad-8, Rad-5, Pulse CO-Oximetry and Pulse CO-Oximeter are trademarks or registered trademarks of Masimo Corporation.

SOURCE Masimo Corporation