aap launches two outstanding new products

Life science company brings new type of trauma shoulder system and innovative Biorigid Femur System onto the market

Berlin/Hanover, September 8, 2000 - aap Implantate AG, Berlin, a life science company listed on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt, has brought out two outstanding and innovative new products, a new kind of trauma shoulder system and the Biorigid Femur System (BFS). After extensive research and development and a range of marketing and sales activities, the two products are being launched officially at the Trauma 2000 conference of accident surgeons, which is being held from 9 to 13 September in Hanover, Germany. aap expects the two new product systems to be highly successful on the market because they are especially economical.

The modular design of aap's new trauma shoulder system is said to be the first ever that is adaptable to the individual patient's anatomy, thus enabling patients to retain a large degree of their natural mobility. In particular, the linking of implant and ligaments by means of a large number of multiple fixation points enables the peculiarities of treating shoulder fractures to be taken into account. The company says the new trauma shoulder system will be available in Germany in September and on international markets shortly afterwards. Interest is said already to have been registered by an unusually large number of hospitals and surgeons.

aap's Biorigid Femur System is also modular in design, making it suitable for an even wider range of indications. "This integrated concept," says the aap board, "is the product philosophy that points the way to the future. The basic component, the nail, can be extended by a wide range of other components, depending on what the indication requires. In addition, a carefully matched set of standard instruments ensures the necessary safety and intra-operative flexibility." It adds that in combination with the Biorigid Nail Tibia the company now offers a complete leg management system based on its internationally patented and licensed principle of interlocking grooves. What is more, it says, aap's nail design reduces the rate of implant failure to less than 0.1%. Standard Biorigid Nail systems are already used in hospitals all over Germany, and as of now aap is offering the extra, new-type components. The company says it is also planning to launch the system in Japan this year.

"Given the keen interest that has already been shown in these two product systems in both Germany and abroad", the board of management says, "we are expecting them to earn a significant share of turnover by as soon as the fourth quarter of 2000." Overall, it says, the rollout of the two systems will lastingly strengthen aap's core competence in the field of osteosynthesis implants.