BeneChill's RhinoChill System Receives CE Marking for European Commercial Sale

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- BeneChill, Inc., today announced it has
received CE Marking for the commercial sale of the RhinoChill System in
European Union member countries. The RhinoChill System is a
battery-operated, non-invasive, portable, and easy-to-use medical device for
rapid therapeutic patient cooling.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080115/LATU002)
"This is an important step for BeneChill," said Denise Barbut, MD, who is
founder and CEO of BeneChill. "We've spent the past three years developing
RhinoChill. Clinical trials in Europe and elsewhere have demonstrated that
RhinoChill decreases temperature in patients requiring cooling therapy. We are
very pleased with this market clearance, which will provide medical personnel
within the European Union with a user-friendly tool to cool patients rapidly
and non-invasively."
The RhinoChill System uses a nasal catheter to deliver a proprietary inert
coolant to the nasal cavity to reduce patient temperature. Therapeutic
hypothermia (reducing patient temperature to approximately 33 degrees C or
91 degrees F) has been shown to improve survival and neurologic outcome after
cardiac arrest. The American Heart Association and the International Liaison
Committee on Resuscitation recommend the use of therapeutic hypothermia in
comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. Other possible uses of therapeutic
hypothermia include stroke and traumatic brain injury.
The RhinoChill System is designed to overcome limitations of other
temperature reduction technologies by enabling early and rapid initiation of
patient cooling. The battery-operated RhinoChill System does not require a
refrigeration unit -- a drawback associated with all existing hypothermia
devices.
"RhinoChill is a unique approach to patient cooling," stated BeneChill COO
Allan Rozenberg, PhD, at today's announcement. "RhinoChill uses the nasal
cavity, which is the body's natural heat exchanger and is in close proximity
to the brain."
Dr. Rozenberg also noted that using the nasal cavity enables treatment by
non-specialized medical personnel using non-sterile technique in any
surrounding, including ambulances, military rescue operations and emergency
rooms, as well as general hospital environments.
About BeneChill:
BeneChill is a venture capital funded medical device company based in San
Diego, CA. The company is developing products in the therapeutic hypothermia
arena with a focus on rapid and non-invasive cooling in the field. The
technology has been used in Europe in cardiac arrest patients. For more
information about BeneChill, please visit http://www.BeneChill.com.
The RhinoChill System is an investigational device in the United States.
The device is limited by United States law to investigational use only.
SOURCE BeneChill, Inc.

Allan Rozenberg, PhD of BeneChill, +1-858-695-8118, arozenberg@benechill.com