Bellatora Inc (ECGR)

[mr_bitterness]

Demand For Mobile Prostate Cancer Brachytherapy Vendor Programs Continues Into 2010

Pittsburgh, PA, Feb 23, 2010 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) -- Oncology Med, Inc. (Pink Sheets "ONCO") announced today that in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2009 that it expanded the number of contracts for its mobile turnkey brachytherapy programs by 300% This expansion with hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers by Oncology Med includes same market growth, as well as, new market presence and penetration. Oncology Med expects these new contracts to double the number of prostate cancer brachytherapy cases performed in calendar year 2010 as compared to the twelve month period of July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.
In the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2009, Oncology Med, a Pittsburgh based cancer treatment solutions group, was successful in renewing all of its current hospital and ambulatory surgery center vendor contracts with facilities in northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, New York (Long Island) and eastern Massachusetts for provision of mobile prostate brachytherapy services. New markets now include eastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Delaware. In addition, Oncology Med saw a doubling of its contracts and major same market growth and expansion occur in its western Pennsylvania region with the advent of OMI's largest competitor of mobile brachytherapy services exiting the market.

Oncology Med derives revenue from these contracts from 'per use' user fees associated with ultrasound imaging, medical physics treatment planning, and provision of equipment and staff utilized in medical procedures in advance of the actual treatment and in the operating room during the actual implant of the therapeutic radionuclide seeds. In addition, equipment, staff, and all resources are mobile allowing for usage at multiple facilities without additional capital outlay.

"Low dose radiation (LDR) prostate cancer brachytherapy treatment involves the insertion of small radionuclide pellets or seeds the size of a pencil lead and about .5 cm in length directly into the prostate for the treatment of prostate cancer confined to the prostate gland," stated William Walker, PhD, President/CEO for Oncology Med. "Our programs provide all the necessary elements to perform such treatments to include the equipment, technical staff, training, and management/provision of the radionuclide seeds for each case required for a program of this type," he continued.

"Unless a medical facility like a hospital or ambulatory surgery center plans on doing in excess of 150 LDR brachytherapy cases a year, it is much more financially feasible for that facility to contract with our company to provide all the resources and equipment necessary for the prostate treatment program without the facility having to provide a large sum of capital funds to purchase what they would need to put a similar program in place without us," stated Walker. "In addition to all the tangible items we bring to the table, our wealth of experience of our company and staff over the last two decades in the provision of turnkey prostate cancer brachytherapy services and treatments is unmatched in the industry," he continued.

"Based on information received from inside the industry on the success of treatment of prostate cancer with LDR brachytherapy seeds, we anticipate current programs to remain in place and stable with the possibility of expansion in the number of current cases over the next year," stated Jack Sloan, Senior Vice President of Operations and Sales. "In addition, we expect to see an expansion of additional programs in the ambulatory surgery center market due to higher financial net returns for each procedure in those facilities, as well as, the lower cost of providing the services which should carry those savings directly over to the patient in the form of lower insurance co-pays," Sloan continued.

"As a company, we weathered the recent national economic downturn very well this past 16 months with positive growth and 2010 is set to be one of our best revenue years yet based on our projections," exclaimed Dr. Walker. "We will certainly continue to look for additional markets to expand and enter and for new services to provide to clients to keep our economic outlook for Oncology Med very positive as we aggressive move the company forward," he concluded.

"With the decision by our largest competitor to exit the mobile prostate brachytherapy market in 2009 to expand other areas of their company, Oncology Med will continue to aggressively seek out hospital and ambulatory surgery centers to fill the void, become these facilities vendor of choice, and expand our footprint nationwide," Sloan added. "We have already picked up many of these accounts and believe we are now the only nationwide vendor of mobile brachytherapy services with the highest level of expertise in this area of prostate cancer treatment," he continued.

In addition to its mobile turnkey prostate cancer brachytherapy programs, Oncology Med continues to provide a full range of services for all existing cancer centers and those new cancer centers under consideration and/or development to include management, staffing, marketing, medical physics, acceptance and commissioning of new equipment, vault design, and quality assurance programs to name a few.

Since 1998, Oncology Med has been instrumental in licensing and bringing up new prostate cancer brachytherapy programs at medical facilities in over 12 states and is considered a leading authority on licensing and implementation of prostate cancer brachytherapy programs.

Oncology Med continues to expand and provide extensive consultation services for new and expanded cancer center construction, certification and credentialing processes for Joint Commission, as well as, physics staffing and support, and complete turnkey solutions for continuation or implementation of radiation treatment programs for ambulatory surgery centers, radiation oncologists, urologists, and hospitals.

About Oncology Med, Inc. Oncology Med is a public company engaged in the fulfillment of services related to the treatment of various cancers. It currently provides analysis and design of radiation treatment plans in order for radiation oncologists to administer radiation treatments to cancer patients. Current services facilitate radiation treatment programs ranging from external beam radiation to more advanced radiation treatment technologies. More information about Oncology Med, Inc. can be found at www.oncologymed.com.

NOTE: This press release may contain ``forward-looking statements.'' In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as ``may,'' ``will,'' ``should,'' ``could,'' ``expects,'' ``plans,'' ``intends,'' ``anticipates,'' ``believes,'' ``estimates,'' ``predicts,'' ``potential,'' ``continue'' or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements about our market opportunity, our strategies, competition, expected activities and expenditures as we pursue our business plan, and the adequacy of our available cash resources. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Actual results may differ materially from the predictions discussed in these forward-looking statements. Changes in the circumstances upon which we base our predictions and/or forward-looking statements could materially affect our actual results. For information, please contact: William Walker, Ph.D. [phone] wwalker(at)oncologymed(dot)com

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