Nephros and Chem-Aqua Announce Distribution Agreement

RIVER EDGE, N.J., Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Nephros, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: NEPH) and Chem-Aqua, Inc., a wholly owned water treatment subsidiary of NCH Corporation, announced today that the companies have signed a non-exclusive distributor agreement for Chem-Aqua to distribute Nephros's innovative ultrafilters in North America.  Chem-Aqua is now beginning launch efforts, including scheduling training sessions and promoting ultrafilters to the hospital market.

"The addition of Nephros ultrafilters to Chem-Aqua's product line will enable us to offer a comprehensive multi-barrier approach for prevention of waterborne infection in the institutions we service," said Pat Guccione, Vice President, Business Development at Chem-Aqua.

"Today's news is a critical catalyst to enable Nephros to increase adoption of our ultrafilters in North America," said John C. Houghton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nephros. "We are proud to be working with Chem-Aqua, a global leader in providing high quality products, technical expertise and specialized service in the area of water treatment."

About Chem-Aqua, Inc.

Chem-Aqua is a global full service provider of water treatment programs and services. Chem-Aqua specializes in providing custom designed water treatment programs for boiler, cooling, and process water systems. We help our customers minimize their energy, water, and maintenance costs while ensuring safe and reliable operation of these critical systems.  In conjunction with our Chem-Aqua Services Division, we are uniquely positioned to provide "turnkey" solutions

Chem-Aqua has the expertise and commitment to help solve virtually any water related problem. We maintain modern, well-equipped analytical laboratories and cutting edge research facilities. Our state-of-the-art products are manufactured to rigorous ISO 9001 specifications. Our field representatives are well trained and backed by some of the most experienced water treatment specialists in the business. Our Total System Approach allows us to provide custom water treatment solutions that will make a bottom line difference to our customers' operations.

Chem-Aqua is the wholly owned water treatment subsidiary of NCH Corporation, a worldwide company that has been providing high-quality maintenance supplies, chemicals and services since 1919. Our Corporate Offices are located in Irving, Texas, USA. We have over 25 manufacturing plants and distribution centers worldwide, and can provide custom water treatment solutions in over 28 countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  

About Nephros, Inc.

Nephros is a commercial stage medical device company that develops and sells high performance liquid purification filters.  Our filters, which we call ultrafilters, are primarily used in dialysis centers and healthcare facilities for the production of ultrapure water and bicarbonate.  Because our ultrafilters capture contaminants as small as 0.005 microns in size, they eliminate a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and endotoxins harmful to humans.

All of our ultrafilters use a proprietary hollow fiber technology.  We believe the hollow fiber design allows our ultrafilters to be the only commercially available filters for healthcare applications that optimize the three elements critical to filter performance:

• Filtration – as low as 0.005 microns
• Flow rate – minimal disruption
• Filter life – up to 12 months

By comparison, competitive filters on the market today are typically effective only to the 0.2 micron level and are prone to clog more quickly, thus reducing their useful lives.

We were founded in 1997 by healthcare professionals affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital to develop and commercialize an alternative method to hemodialysis (HD).  In 2009, we began to extend our filtration technologies to meet the demand for liquid purification in other areas, in particular water purification.

Presently, we offer seven types of ultrafilters for sale to customers in four markets:

• Dialysis Centers – Water/Bicarbonate:  Treatment of both water and bicarbonate for the production of ultrapure dialysate
• Hospitals and Other Healthcare Facilities:  Removal of infectious agents in drinking and bathing water, particularly in high risk patient areas
• Military:  Highly compact, individual water purification devices used by soldiers to produce safe drinking water in the field
• Dialysis Centers – Blood:  Clearance of toxins from blood using an alternative method to HD in patients with chronic renal failure

We have designed our ultrafilters as either in-line products, filters that are incorporated into the existing plumbing of healthcare facilities, or point-of-use products, filters that can be easily installed onto a faucet or as a replacement shower head or can be used stand-alone to purify small quantities of water immediately prior to use.

For more information about Nephros, please visit the company's website at www.nephros.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended (the "PSLRA"). Such statements include statements regarding the efficacy and intended use of our technologies under development, the timelines for bringing such products to market and the availability of funding sources for the continued development of such products and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements which may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. For such statements, we claim the protection of the PSLRA. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks that:

• we may not be able to continue as a going concern;
• we may not be able to obtain funding if and when needed or on terms favorable to us in order to continue operations;
• we may not obtain appropriate or necessary regulatory approvals to achieve our business plan;
• products that appeared promising to us in research or clinical trials may not demonstrate anticipated efficacy, safety or cost savings in subsequent pre-clinical or clinical trials;
• we may encounter problems with our suppliers and manufacturers;
• we may encounter unanticipated internal control deficiencies or weaknesses or ineffective disclosure controls and procedures;
• we may not be able to effectively market our products;
• we may not be able to sell our water filtration products or chronic renal failure therapy products at competitive prices or profitably;
• we may not be able to secure or enforce adequate legal protection, including patent protection, for our products; and
• we may not be able to achieve sales growth in key geographic markets.

More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements, including the forward-looking statements in this press release, is set forth in our filings with the SEC. We urge investors and security holders to read those documents free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. We do not undertake to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Nephros, Inc.