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Hill-Rom Announces Sale of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Intellectual Property

Posted on: Monday, 29 June 2009, 08:00 CDT

BATESVILLE, Ind., June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hill-Rom (NYSE: HRC) today announced the sale of Hill-Rom's patents and intellectual property relating to Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) to Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI). Hill-Rom's NPWT portfolio included U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications covering innovations to NPWT components, protocols, and related therapies. The transaction is effective immediately. Terms were not disclosed.

"The sale of these assets is a continuation of our portfolio rationalization initiative to more tightly focus on our core competencies and businesses that offer attractive and profitable growth opportunities for our shareholders," said Peter H. Soderberg, president and CEO, Hill-Rom Holdings. "While we have successfully developed valuable IP in the area of NPWT, the disposition of these assets is in line with our corporate strategy."

"KCI remains squarely focused on patient care and creating new alternatives in advanced wound healing and other areas," said Catherine M. Burzik, KCI President and Chief Executive Officer. "We will continue to make investments that put us in position to innovate and to deliver great alternatives to the medical community and patients."

ABOUT HILL-ROM

Hill-Rom is a leading worldwide manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and related services for the health care industry, including patient support systems, safe mobility and handling solutions, non-invasive therapeutic products for a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions, medical equipment rentals, and information technology solutions. Hill-Rom's comprehensive product and service offerings are used by health care providers across the health care continuum in hospitals, extended care facilities and home care settings to enhance the safety and quality of patient care.

Hill-Rom...enhancing outcomes for patients and their caregivers.

www.hill-rom.com

Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the Company's future plans, objectives, beliefs, expectations, representations and projections. The Company has tried, wherever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "encourage," "expect," "may," "goal," "become," "pursue," "estimate," "strategy," "will," "project," "forecast," "continue," "accelerate," "promise," "increase," "higher," "lower," "reduce," "improve," "expand," "progress," "potential" or the negative of those terms or other variations of them or by comparable terminology. The absence of such terms, however, does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. It is important to note that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those set forth in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: the Company's dependence on its relationships with several large group purchasing organizations, whether the Company's new products are successful in the marketplace, changes in customers' Medicare reimbursements, collections of accounts receivable, compliance with FDA regulations, antitrust litigation, potential exposure to product liability or other claims, failure of the Company's announced or future strategic initiatives and restructuring and realignment activities to achieve expected growth, efficiencies or cost reductions, disruptions in the Company's business or other adverse consequences resulting from the recent spin-off of the funeral service business, failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the spin-off, failure of the Company to execute its acquisition and business alliance strategy through the consummation and successful integration of acquisitions or entry into joint ventures or other business alliances, increased costs or unavailability of raw materials, adverse changes in global economic conditions or disruptions of credit markets, labor disruptions, the ability to retain executive officers and other key personnel, and certain tax-related matters. For a more in depth discussion of these and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, see the discussions under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended September 30, 2008 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Hill-Rom

Source: PR Newswire

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