Seattle, WA – November 5, 2006 – Calypso® Medical Technologies, Inc. announced that the recently passed Fiscal Year 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act provides $2 million for a new initiative entitled "Targeted Radiation Therapy for Cancer Initiative." This will bring Calypso® Medical’s state-of-the-art targeted radiation therapy platform to military service personnel and veterans who are affected by prostate cancer, accelerate research in targeted radiation therapy for other cancers at the Madigan Army Medical Center (MAMC), and will directly benefit the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs by:

• Providing improved, state-of-the-art prostate cancer treatment to active-duty and retired military personnel and veterans;
• Investigating new treatment options for prostate cancer. Targeted radiation therapy can reduce the number of daily radiation treatments required for each patient, which has the result of reducing the cost of care and increasing treatment capacity within the military and veterans health care delivery system; and
• Accelerating the development of the targeted radiation therapy platform to treat additional cancers that significantly affect military service personnel and veterans, such as head and neck, lung, and breast cancers sooner than otherwise possible.

Radiation therapy is used to treat more than 1.3 million patients in the U.S. each year, many of whom are afflicted with cancers of the prostate, breast, head and neck, and lung. In each case, the patient receives therapeutic doses of radiation daily over a number of weeks with the intent of destroying a tumor target without damaging healthy tissue. However, the effectiveness of radiation therapy has been thwarted by the inability to locate and track the tumor target continuously during the delivery of the radiation dose. Without the ability to accurately locate the tumor target at the time of dose delivery, the patient’s healthy tissue is often exposed to radiation, which may result in life-long or acute complications. 

Calypso® Medical Technologies developed the targeted radiation therapy platform and looks forward to working with MAMC on the implementation of this initiative. Calypso recently received FDA 510(k) clearance of its breakthrough technology, the Calypso® 4D Localization System, which is designed to enable clinicians to measure and monitor organ motion during radiation therapy for cancer patients. The Calypso® System provides continuous, objective, and accurate identification of implanted markers, Beacon® transponders, serving as reference points for the tumor target.

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