Vestara Launches EcoRexNS(TM) to Reduce Pharmaceutical Waste Pollution

- Only fully-automated, regulatory compliant system available to
manage healthcare facility pharmaceutical waste, preventing entry into
the water supply -
IRVINE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Vestara announced today the launch of the EcoRexNS(TM)
Pharmaceutical Waste Management System, the first and only
fully-automated, integrated system that allows healthcare facilities
to meet or exceed Federal regulations for pharmaceutical waste
handling and prevent thousands of tons of waste medicines from
entering the U.S. water supply.

The EcoRexNS(TM) incorporates barcode technology, already widely
used in hospitals to track drug utilization and prevent medication
errors, and a proprietary, continuously updated database of more than
140,000 National Drug Code (NDC) products, to instantly categorize
waste medicines. By automating the identification and sorting of
different types of residual drugs, empty containers, and each
hospital's unique admixtures, EcoRexNS(TM) eliminates the human error
inherent in manual sorting of pharmaceutical waste to reduce negative
impact on the environment.

"Every minute, U.S. hospitals discard approximately 7,400
containers of hazardous drugs," said Alan Davidner, president and
chief executive officer of Vestara. "While these medicines are
life-saving in the hospital, they represent a growing threat to
environmental and human health if they are disposed of improperly and
enter the water supply. The EcoRexNS(TM) provides an efficient,
compliant and cost-effective solution for hospitals struggling to
address a confusing array of laws, regulations and outdated lists of
hazardous pharmaceuticals with cumbersome manual sorting methods."

Pharmaceutical waste management is emerging as a prominent public
health issue as Americans use and dispose of more prescription
medications and trace levels of pharmaceuticals end up in the water
supply. A recent five-month investigation by the Associated Press
revealed that pharmaceuticals are present in the drinking water of 24
major metropolitan areas nationwide. Few water treatment facilities
currently test for pharmaceutical contamination and almost none has
the expensive technology necessary to remove it.

Although all Americans likely contribute to this problem through
normal bodily excretion or direct disposal of unused medicines, the
largest single preventable source of pharmaceutical water
contamination may be hospitals and other large healthcare facilities.
A complex patchwork of regulations, the logistics of waste management
and its impact on staff time, and the sheer volume of
highly-concentrated, liquid chemicals used in hospitals all contribute
to the potential for improper disposal in landfills or directly into
sewer systems.

"A typical hospital will dispose of one million drugs and
containers annually, making the task of determining whether each drug
is hazardous and selecting the proper means of disposal overwhelming,"
said Fred Massoomi, PharmD, FASHP, director of pharmacy, Nebraska
Methodist Hospital. "Manual systems are difficult to design, implement
and enforce in a busy hospital and often it isn't clear when an unused
drug should be poured down the drain or placed in a specific
receptacle. Many hospitals have gone to great lengths to address this
problem but have had limited success. The EcoRexNS(TM) represents the
first simple, cost-effective solution to this problem and will allow
hospitals to extend their health mandate to the surrounding community
and environment."

How the EcoRexNS(TM) Works

EcoRexNS(TM) features a barcode scanner and easy-to-use touch
screen to help hospital staff quickly and properly classify waste as
infectious, chemotherapeutic, hazardous, mixed hazardous/infectious or
lower risk. Once the type of waste is identified, EcoRexNS(TM) opens
the appropriate tamper-proof container automatically, reducing cost by
separating waste to the least expensive waste stream that is in
compliance with government regulations and reducing the volume of
waste in the highest hazard categories.

After disposal, the respective waste stream receptacle is
immediately returned to a locked state; it remains closed and secure
until a user scans another bar code. Level sensors trigger automatic
alerts to the environmental services (EVS) team responsible for
content removal when receptacles are full. The hospital's waste
handler then disposes of the properly segregated waste according to
appropriate protocols.

Each EcoRexNS(TM) station is modular and configured to the needs
of the facility. The specific configuration is based on the required
number and type of waste streams and the volume of each type of waste
for that area of the hospital.

Vestara-Sponsored Educational Programs and Resources

Through an education grant from Vestara, the American Society of
Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) developed two continuing education
programs addressing pharmaceutical waste management in health systems:
"Pharmaceutical Waste Management in Health Systems" and "Regulatory
Compliance and Practical Considerations in the Management of
Pharmaceutical Waste in Health Systems". Each of these programs
provides 1.0 hour (0.1 CEUs) of continuing education credit for both
pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and are available through August
31, 2008.

For detailed information or to participate in these CE programs,
visit http://symposia.ashp.org/pharmawaste.

As an additional resource for healthcare professionals, Vestara
created the SaferSolutions resource guides, which offer concise
information designed to help healthcare facilities comply with
government regulations, and more accurately and economically manage
hazardous pharmaceutical waste. Available at no charge through
www.safersolutions.org, these guides provide timely information about
the most prevalent pharmaceutical disposal violations within hospitals
and specific steps for implementing a proficient and cost effective
hazardous drug waste management program.

About Vestara

Vestara, a Vesta Medical LLC Company with headquarters in Irvine,
CA, is strategically focused on drug disposal solutions that remove
regulatory compliance confusion, creating conditions for better
utilization of all hospital resources. Vestara's goal is to reduce
risks to human health and the environment by providing hospitals with
both advanced technology that identifies and sorts drug waste and
educational resources that support implementation of improved waste
handling. More information about Vestara is available at
www.vestara.com.

BioComm Network
Michele Parisi, 925-429-1850

Copyright Business Wire 2008