Masimo Steps Up with March for Babies™ to Fight for Healthier Newborns

IRVINE, Calif., April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) will lead the annual March of Dimes March for Babies Walk beginning 7 a.m., Sunday, April 28, at Fashion Island, Newport Beach, when thousands of volunteers and donors will join the fight against birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

"Newborns are among the most vulnerable in any society," said Joe Kiani, CEO of Masimo and Chair of the Orange County March of Dimes 2013 March for Babies. "We owe it to them to create a safe, nurturing and healthy entrance to the world. Together we can help eliminate preventable birth defects and infant deaths."

It's not too late to register to walk, and those unable to attend can donate from anywhere in the world. Please visit www.marchforbabies.org/team/masimo.

The March of Dimes' mission to improve the health of babies aligns with Masimo's long-standing goal to help clinicians screen for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) and reduce retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a devastating eye disorder resulting in partial or complete blindness in premature newborns.

The March of Dimes was instrumental in passage last year of a California law requiring general acute care hospitals with licensed perinatal services to offer pulse oximetry screening for CCHD, a group of life-threatening heart defects that require intervention within the first days or year of life. CCHD causes up to 3% of all infant deaths in the first year of life.¹ According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these types of heart defects affect about 7 to 9 of every 1,000 live births, one quarter of which could be detected and potentially treated by measuring blood oxygen saturation.

Masimo's pulse oximetry technology – the first to achieve accurate monitoring results with squirming babies and those with low perfusion (blood-flow) to their extremities – helps clinicians screen for potential CCHD and the need for additional testing before a baby leaves the hospital. Masimo's technology played a key role informing HSS's decision in 2011 to add CCHD screening to the national uniform screening panel, spurring a groundswell of recently introduced and enacted state CCHD screening laws across the country.

"We're thrilled to have Joe Kiani and Masimo on board to support us at a local level," said Celia Wheeler, Executive Director of the Orange County Division of March of Dimes. "His passion for the cause and commitment to helping our babies will be a huge driving factor in the success of our event this year. We are grateful for the time and support Mr. Kiani has been able to lend us."

1. Secretary of Health & Human Services letter to the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC); dated September 21, 2011. Available here.

About the March of Dimes
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. With chapters nationwide and its premier event, March for Babies® the March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. For the latest resources and information, visit marchofdimes.com, nacersano.org, facebook.com/marchofdimesca, and twitter.com/modcal.

About the March for Babies
March for Babies is the March of Dimes annual fundraising event to help every baby have a healthy start. March for Babies is the March of Dimes largest fundraiser. It's a family-friendly event where the community comes together to walk for healthy babies. Money raised through March for Babies supports lifesaving programs of research, community outreach, education and advocacy. One day, all babies will be born healthy – but we need to walk to get there. Information about March for Babies can be found at marchforbabies.org.

About Masimo
Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) is the global leader in innovative noninvasive 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 help clinicians detect life-threatening events. More than 100 independent and objective studies have shown that Masimo SET^® outperforms other pulse oximetry technologies, even under the most challenging clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion. In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow SET^® Pulse CO-Oximetry technology, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures; total hemoglobin (SpHb^®), oxygen content (SpOC^TM), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO^®), methemoglobin (SpMet^®), PVI^®, and perfusion index (PI), in addition to measure-through motion SpO₂, and pulse rate. In 2008, Masimo introduced Patient SafetyNet™, a remote monitoring and wireless clinician notification system designed to help hospitals avoid preventable deaths and injuries associated with failure to rescue events. In 2009, Masimo introduced rainbow^® Acoustic Monitoring^TM, the first-ever commercially available noninvasive and continuous monitoring of acoustic respiration rate (RRa™). Masimo SET^® and Masimo rainbow^® technologies also can be found in over 100 multiparameter patient monitors from over 50 medical device manufacturers around the world. Founded in 1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcome 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 belief that Masimo SET provides real-time results for all patients to help clinicians to more rapidly assess, diagnose, and treat  every patient with CCHD; helps reduce ROP;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 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 Patient Outcome and Reducing Cost of Care… by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications, rainbow, SpHb, SpOC, SpCO, SpMet, PVI, rainbow Acoustic Monitoring, RRa, Radical-7, Rad-87, Rad-57,Rad-8, Rad-5,Pulse CO-Oximetry, Pulse CO-Oximeter, Adaptive Threshold Alarm, and SEDLine  are trademarks or registered trademarks of Masimo Corporation. The use of the trademarks Patient SafetyNet and PSN are under license from University HealthSystem Consortium.

SOURCE Masimo