11/11/2002

NAMSA, one of the world’s largest independent testing laboratories has announced a partnership with SPS Medical Supply Corporation to distribute their complete line of sterility assurance products to several industrial market segments. These segments include medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and contract sterilization laboratories. The agreement covers both domestic and international distribution.  SPS Medical is the largest sterilizer-testing laboratory in North America with a commitment to being the lowest cost, “compliant” provider of sterility assurance products to both the acute and primary care markets.

The SPS Medical product line is an excellent fit with NAMSA’s current sterility assurance products and allows NAMSA to meet all of its customers needs in the area of sterilization monitoring.  Some of these products include:  48-hour readout self-contained biological indicators for ethylene oxide (EO) and steam sterilization, chemical integrators for steam sterilization, spore ampules for monitoring liquid sterilization, chemical indicator strips (EO, steam, dry heat and chemical vapor), indicator tapes (EO, steam, dry heat and chemical vapor), self-sealing sterilization pouches, CSR wraps and record-keeping labels.

Dr. Joel R. Gorski, Director of the NAMSA Products Business Unit, commented on the new agreement:  “This collaborative agreement with SPS Medical allows NAMSA to offer a greater breadth and depth of products used to monitor the efficacy of different sterilization processes.  It will allow SPS Medical to concentrate on their strength, which is distribution to hospitals, clinics, medical and dental offices and allow NAMSA to concentrate on its strength, which is distribution to the industrial market.  We believe NAMSA clients will find good value in these quality products and can now buy their complete supply of sterility assurance indicators through us.”

Chuck Hughes, General Manager of SPS Medical adds, “This alliance is a perfect fit for us and NAMSA. Our core competencies are similar but we sell to different markets. This agreement helps to introduce our products to new markets while providing NAMSA with the ability to offer more to its current customers.”

NAMSA is a multinational company with laboratories in the United States and France, specializing in nonclinical testing services. NAMSA offers materials characterization, biocompatibility, and microbial testing to ensure the safety and efficacy of medical devices. The U.S.A. laboratories (Ohio, Georgia, and California) have ISO 9001 certification and Biomatech, in France, is accredited according to EN 45001. NAMSA also manufactures sterility assurance products such as biological indicators, growth promotion test suspensions, and chemical process indicators.