Park Medical builds backlogof Isocam gamma camera equipment

Vendor completes $3.6 million private placement

Optimistic financial predictions and bold product performanceclaims punctuated a March 6 teleconference sponsored by Canadiannuclear gamma camera manufacturer Park Meditech. The conferencewas held to introduce the vendor and its Park Medical subsidiaryto the U.S. investor community.

About 150 money managers and other observers dialed in to hearPark Meditech chairman Sheldon Inwentash announce that his companyhas reached an operational turning point in commercializing itssingle-head Isocam I and dual-head Isocam II gamma cameras.

Three Isocam scanners have been installed since sales beganin December 1994, said Richard Mullen, chief executive officerof Park Medical, the nuclear camera equipment subsidiary of ParkMeditech. Early recipients include St. Jerome Medical Center inMontreal, New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston and Cedars-SinaiMedical Center in Los Angeles.

As of March 7, the company carried a $3 million backlog, Mullensaid. He expects Park will ship another 20 to 25 units valuedat roughly $10 million before the end of the fiscal year on July31.

Peering farther into the future, Mullen predicted that Parkwill sell between 50 and 70 all-digital gamma cameras in fiscal1996. He forecasted sales revenues in the $25 million to $30 millionrange for that period. The company is expected to be profitable,he said.

Inwentash predicted gross margins of about 20% this year andin the mid- to high-30% range in the 1996 fiscal year.

While the design of Park's digital gamma series has gainedrecognition in nuclear medicine's technical circles, many insiderswould be surprised to hear Mullen's claim that the Isocam is thefirst all-digital camera introduced into clinical practice. SummitMedical Systems is generally credited with introducing the firstwhole body all-digital gamma camera in 1992.

Mullen dismissed competing cameras that are marketed as all-digitalbut are still dependent on the Anger formula for summation.

"They are not purely and truly digital, as proven by theirresolution and their inability to do a lot of protocols and procedures,"he said.

Park's digital detector technology is called spectral modeacquisition in real time (SMART). The detectors are energy-independentand capable of imaging from 50 to 561 keV.

The Isocam detectors are able to resolve 2.7-mm-diameter objectsat 10-cm distance, according to Mullen, compared to 3.8-mm intrinsicresolution at 10 cm for competing analog devices.

Mullen touted the Isocam cameras for their ability to performdual-isotope imaging, including simultaneous SPECT and 511-keVimaging. Park officials also emphasized clinical research thatsuggests that scintimammography might bolster future sales.

The company also announced the first closing of private placementof equity with European institutions. As of Feb. 28, Park Meditechhad sold an aggregate of about 1.7 million shares for $3.6 million.The issue, which is open until March 20, could raise another $5.5million, Inwentash said.

Park Meditech had raised $9 million in April 1994 from anotherprivate placement. It had between two to three months of operatingcapital remaining when recent financing was secured, Inwentashsaid.