MedQuest Named Utah’s Fastest Growing Medical Device Company

October 16, 2000 ,SALT LAKE CITY —MedQuest Products Inc., a privately held Utah-based medical device company, was named the fastest growing medical device company in Utah at an awards ceremony hosted by MountainWest Venture Group, a nonprofit organization established to foster the growth of Utah businesses. The Group’s prestigious annual ranking of Utah’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies honored MedQuest with an overall ranking of the seventh fastest growing company in the state.

The top 100 fastest growing companies in Utah were selected from over 11,000 eligible applicants solicited from throughout the state. Companies on the list are recognized for their revenue growth over the previous five years. During this period, MedQuest’s revenues have grown by more than 5,700%.

Governor Michael O. Leavitt, in his keynote address, congratulated the high-growth companies for “contributing to Utah’s prosperity and strong economic performance.” In recent years, Utah has had one of the fastest growing economies in the nation.

Mr. John M. Knab, Chairman of MountainWest Venture Group added “The companies in the Utah 100 show the entrepreneurial spirit that is alive. The Utah 100 illustrates that people can succeed in Utah if they are prepared to follow their vision, put the right resources together, and make the sacrifices to achieve economic success.”

Mr. Pratap Khanwilkar, MedQuest’s Chairman, President, and co-founder commented “MedQuest has seen huge growth since our inception, and we haven’t even realized our full potential. If our company can see this kind of growth while still in the development stage of our billion-dollar product line, we can clearly imagine the bright future ahead.”

MedQuest is completing the development of HeartQuest™: a revolutionary, magnetically-suspended, implantable blood pump. The patented HeartQuest™ pump offers heart failure patients improved longevity and superior blood compatibility over existing mechanical blood pumps because it contains no friction-based internal parts. This feat can be accomplished because the HeartQuest™ blood pump has a rotor completely suspended in a magnetic field, eliminating mechanical wear. The clinical HeartQuest blood pump will be tested in animals by the end of this year.

MedQuest has already commercialized the single-use AuTome™ electrosurgical electrode (commonly known as a “cautery knife” used extensively by surgeons for cutting and coagulation during surgery), based on a patented biocompatible coating technology developed for the HeartQuest™ blood pump. The AuTome™ blade has received FDA 510(k) clearance and is in clinical use in Asia and in the United States.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by the Utah 100 in our first year of eligibility,” add MedQuest co-founders, engineer Mr. Gill Bearnson and heart surgeon Dr. James Long. “This is a great recognition for MedQuest as we proceed to clinical use of our revolutionary HeartQuest ‘blood pump within the next 2 years.”



Company Background
MedQuest is a pioneer in the development of implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs). The HeartQuest™ VAD is an implantable, centrifugal pump that utilizes a magnetically suspended impeller to provide a frictionless, wear-free pumping action. A VAD boosts the output of a failing heart to normal levels. Congestive heart failure is the fastest growing segment of the cardiovascular disease market and is diagnosed in 550,000 Americans each year; over 200,000 deaths annually are attributed to congestive heart failure according to American Heart Association 2002 statistics .

MedQuest®, HeartQuest™, and MagLev™ are trademarks of MedQuest® Products Inc.