NxStage Honored by Award from Wall Street Journal

NxStage(R) Medical's System One(R) Portable Dialysis Machine Recognized by Wall Street Journal's Global Technology Innovation Awards

Wednesday September 13, 7:00 am ET

First Truly Portable Hemodialysis System Cleared for Home Use Increases Access to Daily Treatments

LAWRENCE, Mass., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NxStage Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTM - News), a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets innovative systems for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and acute kidney failure, announced today that The Wall Street Journal recognized the company's System One® Portable Dialysis Machine in the Medical Device category of the publication's global 2006 Technology Innovation Awards. The annual awards recognize technological breakthroughs by individuals, companies and organizations around the world in a wide range of areas, including medicine.
"We are honored that The Wall Street Journal recognized our portable dialysis technology as one of the top innovations of the year," said Jeff Burbank, President and CEO of NxStage Medical, Inc. He adds, "This award adds to the body of evidence supporting daily home hemodialysis. Our System One has made the life-saving dialysis process more accessible to chronic kidney failure patients, allowing patients and their families to have more freedom and improved quality of life."

In selecting the winners, an independent panel of judges considered whether the technology truly represents a break with conventional methods rather than just an incremental improvement. The Wall Street Journal received more than 600 applications from nearly two-dozen countries for the awards event.

The NxStage System One is the smallest, commercially-available hemodialysis system. It is portable, allowing patients to travel, and is easy to use by patients with their trained partners. Unlike traditional dialysis equipment, the NxStage system plugs into standard electrical outlets and requires no special infrastructure to operate, allowing patients to use it in their own homes. The personal freedom that NxStage therapy offers patients makes it an attractive alternative for many of the estimated 300,000 people in the United States who live with chronic kidney failure and are treated with dialysis.

Hemodialysis, the most widely prescribed type of therapy for chronic kidney failure patients, typically consists of traveling to a dialysis clinic three times per week for treatment lasting three to four hours. Recent published surveys suggest that physicians, professionals and patients agree that a greater percentage of patients could benefit from home and/or assisted self-care therapies. There is also a growing body of literature supporting the clinical benefits of more frequent dialysis, often administered in the home. The System One is designed to address these developing markets as well as more traditional acute and chronic dialysis markets. ..."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060913/new015.html?.v=69

This story came out the day I left for my Florida trip and I missed it!!!