Simbionix USA Corp, an international company using leading edge simulation to advance clinical performance, announces the world-wide release of a breakthrough training simulation of the laparoscopic colorectal procedure.

Although minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques provide many advantages over traditional open surgery, surgeons have been slow to adopt laparoscopic colon resection, because it is a very challenging procedure to learn without potentially putting patients at risk. Colorectal resection is the most common treatment for colorectal cancer, which accounts for almost 10% of all cancer deaths in the US annually. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) ranks colorectal cancer as the 4th most common type in the United States, with over 148,000 Americans diagnosed in 2008.

This new, virtual reality simulation, properly used, will significantly assist surgeons in mastering and perfecting their skills, in performing this critical cancer procedure, without posing a risk to patients during the learning process. The Laparoscopic Colorectal Procedure simulation joins the suite of training simulations available on Simbionix’s critically acclaimed LAP Mentor™ which now offers training opportunities on seven different laparoscopic procedures and over 60 different patient scenarios.

Our new laparoscopic colorectal module is definitely a revolution in the world of virtual reality medical simulation,” explains Simbionix President, Ran Bronstein. “We’ve created a virtual 3D environment featuring the complex anatomical structures a surgeon would encounter in a real laparoscopic colorectal resection. Combined with the unique simulation capabilities that I believe only Simbionix can provide, the virtual module allows unlimited procedural interaction and is a definite leap forward in medical simulation.”

The Simbionix Laparoscopic Colorectal Procedure simulation received international praise at the September 2008, 11th World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery and the Japanese Society of Endoscopic Surgery (JSES), and at the American College of Surgery (ACS) in San Francisco, CA in October. Professor Watanabe, head of the JSES, said: “It is very exciting to have a way of training how to perform and master this critical procedure. I am sure we will use it to train our surgeons.”

Conor P. Delaney, Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery at Case Western Reserve University, is also excited about the new module. “The laparoscopic colorectal module will transform the way we teach laparoscopic colorectal surgery. I see this as an important part of training, where trainees learn the basic steps on a simple trainer, and then practice their first 20 cases on the Simbionix simulator. That way, by the time they need to perform in a clinical situation, they are already experienced with the procedure.”

Cleveland, OH and Tel Aviv, Israel: Simbionix USA Corporation is pleased to announce the completion of a Series C round of growth capital financing led by River Cities Capital Funds, along with incumbent investor Early Stage Partners and other existing shareholders, as well as Western Reserve Partners who served as the company’s investment bankers. The investment will enable Simbionix to accelerate the already rapid growth of its medical simulation technology via the introduction of innovative new products and expanded distribution channels. “This significant funding will help us continue the company’s momentum and support Simbionix’s commitment to maintain its position as the global leader in medical simulation technology,” stated Dr. Avshalom Horan, Chairman.“We are excited about the market’s validation of our technology as well as the strong financial support of River Cities and the continuing support of our existing investors,” commented Gary Zamler Simbionix CEO. “This infusion of new growth capital will fuel further domestic and international growth of our existing products as well as our emerging products – that includes the recently launched PROcedure Rehearsal Studio, a truly revolutionary virtual reality endovascular simulator with unprecedented hands-on, “patient-specific training capabilities,” he added. “Simbionix works closely with global leaders in healthcare, both on the medical device side and the provider side. They take comfort with Simbionix as a partner because of our size, profitability, and the resources to bring innovative products to market,” Mr. Zamler concluded.

Ran Bronstein, Simbionix President and one of its founders commented “funding of this sort is an important achievement for the Simbionix team. It’s an additional indication demonstrating the growth and the validity of the medical education and simulation market since River Cities has experience in both fields. We welcome River Cities’ involvement to boost our efforts to improve patient safety and medical outcomes through advanced simulation. “

“We have been very impressed with the Simbionix team and its best-of-breed technology in an attractive, emerging global marketplace – the combination of people and technology at Simbionix looks tough to beat,” stated Mr. Murray Wilson, Managing Director of River Cities. “The impressive rate of adoption of the new e-Learning initiatives makes us confident that the company can build on its already-demonstrated success with the simulation platform.

About River Cities
River Cities Capital Funds is a venture capital firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio with an office in Raleigh, North Carolina. It has raised nearly $400MM in four venture funds since being founded in 1994, and has backed over 80 portfolio companies, located mainly in the Midwest and Southeastern regions of the U.S. River Cities invests behind exceptional management teams in expansion stage companies in healthcare and information technology that have unique technology or services and strong market positions, with a special emphasis on recurring revenue business models. For more information, please visit www.rccf.com.

About Early Stage Partners
Early Stage Partners is an early stage venture capital firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. The company invests in promising opportunities in instrumentation and control technology, life sciences, advanced materials, energy, information technology, and electronics. The company’s principals have over one hundred years combined experience in early stage company formation and development, with a significant network of relationships throughout the United State that can be used to attract management, develop strategic partnerships, and provide later stage funding. For more information, please visit www.esplp.com.

Cleveland, OH and Denver CO: Simbionix’ eLearning division, eTrinsic, announced the release of version 6.0 of their enhanced Learning Management System (LMS), incorporating the True Assessment System™ (TAS) for data reporting. Simbionix’ LMS already delivers state-of-the-art online medical education modules to tens of thousands of users.

V6.0 adds enhanced administration and reporting functions so new users can grasp basic functionality immediately and experienced administrators can perform/carry out common management tasks faster. A streamlined GUI integrates all the features into an easy-to-use interface.

The architecture has been refined for enhanced scalability, greater speed, and superior performance.

Improvements to current features include enhanced rules-based self-registration, manager approval, event scheduling, unlimited group and manager levels, wait-list management, prerequisite management, updated certification management and accreditation reporting.

The new Data Visualization Reports Suite allows administrators to visualize user data quickly so they can easily manage and understand user capabilities and knowledge.

V6.0 also integrates Simbionix simulator data into reports. And by the end of 2008, complete integration of the LMS with the Simbionix Mentor line of virtual reality simulators will be available.

Announcing the release of the new version 6.0 LMS, eTrinsic President Jacques Devaud commented: “We developed the LMS to offer corporations rapid deployment, customized data collection and detailed reporting capabilities not found in other platforms. Version 6.0 offers even more power and flexibility to users and managers, while setting the stage for the first ever integration of simulator and didactic performance data into one seamless product.”

Cleveland, OH, USA: Ten new validation studies were published during 2007 on the Simbionix Mentor series of training simulators, bringing the total number of studies published to 65. “This year we have seen a considerable increase in interest from US and European institutes” said Gary Zamler, Simbionix’ CEO. “Some of the world’s most highly respected academic medical institutions and teaching hospitals have completed studies measuring the efficacy of using Simbionix Mentor simulation products.”

The studies published this year include two new studies on the GI Mentor, two on the URO/PERC platform, three on the LAP Mentor and three on the ANGIO Mentor. Some of the studies were carried out at multiple sites, something that typically increases the reliability of study results. The institutes which conducted studies include the University of Texas, Catharina Hospital of the Netherlands, the British Imperial College of London and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences in the Kyushu University of Fukuoka, the first study by a Japanese institute to date.

The study carried out by experts at Catherina Hospital’s Department of Gastroenterology concluded that the GI Mentor II simulator offered a convincing, realistic representation of colonoscopy that can discriminate between different levels of colonoscopy expertise. As a result, the product was granted both construct validity and expert validity. The study carried out by Kyushu University of Fukuoka concluded that the LAP Mentor was able to differentiate between subjects with different laparoscopic experience.

One of the key value points for medical institutions to use Simbionix products is the ability to offer clinicians and medical students the required hands-on surgical experience at zero patient risk. Validation studies are critical to prove the efficacy of the simulation experience, so that institutions can rely on simulators to advance clinician training and improve patient safety. Yael Friedman Ph.D., Simbionix Chief Scientist over Medical Projects noted “We are happy to see that all of the institutes which have validated our products continue to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantage of using our Mentor products for surgical training.”