Product Release: BIOPEX Orthopedic Filling Paste?| Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

June 6, 2000

Product Release: BIOPEX Orthopedic Filling Paste

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Tokyo; President: Akira Uehara; total capitalization: 29.8 billion yen) and Welfide Corporation (headquartered in Osaka; President: Akio Kamakura; Total Capitalization: 21.4 billion yen) will, on June 14, jointly release BIOPEX, an orthopedic filling paste developed by the Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (headquartered in Tokyo; President: Isami Akimoto; total capitalization: 99.3 billion yen).

Welfide will conduct sales, and the companies will jointly perform the promotion of the product. Mitsubishi Materials will manufacture the powdered composite and Taiyo Yakuhin, Ltd. (headquartered in Nagoya; President: Shigeki Shintani) will produce the solvent.

Use of BIOPEX as an orthopedic filling paste will be covered under medical insurance as a specific medical material in the following applications: to strengthen and provide support for healing fractures, to facilitate bone defect repair, to reinforce orthopedic screws, implants and cement-less artificial joints, and to enhance adhesion as broken bones knit and heal.

Once the powder composite and the solvent are mixed, BIOPEX takes approximately 10 minutes to harden. It maintains a malleable paste state before setting, and can be injected using a syringe. It has the added feature of hardening quickly after application to cement elements in place.

With the progression of Japan's societal graying, an increasing number of the elderly suffer fractures and bone breaks due to osteoporosis and other factors. BIOPEX is an ideal treatment in these instances, and we are confident that by shortening the period required for bones to heal, it can contribute to the quality of life of these senior citizens.

We expect total sales for BIOPEX for this fiscal year to reach 1.6 billion yen.

Product Overview

Product Name	BIOPEX
Product Features	(1) Paste form enables application with a syringe. (2)Sufficient hardening shortly after application. (3)Becomes hydroxyapatite in the body, giving excellent bone conduction, organic affinity and bone restoration. (4)Malleability enables a wide range of clinical applications.
Composition	Powder (10g) Alpha-tribasic calcium phosphate: 7.50g Tetrabasic Calcium phosphate: 1.80g Calcium hydrogenphosphate: 0.50g Hydroxyapatite: 0.20g Solvent (1ml) Sodium chondroitin sulfate: 54.05mg Dibasic sodium succinate anhydride: 129.72mg To be mixed with a suitable amount of solution and injected.
Uses	(1) Repairing bone defects. (2) Repairing and strengthening/supporting broken bones. (3) Reinforcing orthopedic screws and implants. (4) Filling gaps between cement-less artificial joints and bones.
Medical Insurance Coverage	Covered under medical insurance as a specific medical material for the following applications (or any other bone and joint treatment for artificial binding):osteomyelitis, bone and joint infection, chronic joint ailments, metabolic osteopathy, traumatic osteopathy, treatment of post-osteoncus lesions and abrasions, treatment of deficient areas following bone autoplasty of any of the preceding, filling deficient areas of the skull or cranial cavity, and tympanoplasty.
Packaging	3 cc Package: one 5-gram packet of powder, one 4-ml vial of solvent, syringe. 6 cc Package: one 10-gram packet of powder, one 4-ml vial of solvent, syringe. Powder and the syringe are?-ray sterilized; the solvent is sterilized through an aseptic filter. *Suggested retail prices are as follows: 3-cc Package : 75,000 yen, 6-cc Package : 144,000 yen