Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Montecito Medical Ventures Announces Alliance With Accuray, a Leading Developer of Cancer Treatment Technology

DALLAS, TX, Jul 01, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) --

Montecito Medical Ventures (MMV), a joint venture of Montecito Medical Investment Company (MMIC), announced today that it has formed an alliance by purchasing two placement contracts from medical technology company Accuray, manufacturers of the CyberKnife(R) radiosurgery system. The purchase has created a program that gives healthcare providers that are affiliated with Montecito Medical access to medical technologies through its financing program. MMV will make a pool of investment capital for healthcare transactions available to providers interested in acquiring CyberKnife or other advanced medical technologies.

The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is the world's only radiosurgery system that can treat tumors anywhere in the body with sub-millimeter accuracy. Using image guidance technology and computer controlled robotics, the CyberKnife System is designed to continuously track the tumor, detect its location and automatically make needed adjustments throughout the procedure. Because it is so precise, the CyberKnife system enables surgeons to be less invasive in their surgical procedures, and allows them to target tumors in any part of the body, including the head, neck, spine, lung, prostate, liver and pancreas. CyberKnife also provides an additional option for patients diagnosed with tumors believed to be inoperable, or for patients looking for an alternative to surgery.

"One of our principal goals at Montecito Medical Ventures is to give our provider partners access to the world's best medical technology, and capital to acquire the technology and expand their operations," said Michael Burress, Managing Partner of Montecito Medical Ventures. "With CyberKnife, Accuray has had a dramatic impact on how surgeons approach cancer surgery. We are very pleased that through this acquisition we can make Accuray's technological innovations more widely available to physicians and their patients."

MMV was launched in October 2007 to provide venture capital and partnership opportunities to physician groups in key markets across the country. A joint venture of the California-based Montecito Medical Investment Company, MMV targets resources where it has determined there is a need for expanded medical services, and where it has identified strong partners that have medical products or technologies that will benefit healthcare providers affiliated with MMIC. Capital investments will be targeted to real estate acquisition and development, and structured finance in medical technology.

The CyberKnife System was developed in 1987 by Dr. John Adler, professor of neurosurgery and radiation oncology at Stanford University Medical Center. In 1990, Adler teamed up with a group from Stanford to form Accuray. Since creating the CyberKnife System, Adler and Accuray have enhanced its performance by taking advantage of new technologies and faster computers in order to provide the best system for radiosurgery treatments. To date, Accuray has brought the CyberKnife System to more than 40,000 patients around the world.

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