RITA Medical Systems Names Stephen S. Pedroff Vice President, Marketing Communications
Mr. Pedroff has more than fifteen years of marketing experience in various direct to consumer, business to business, and vertical markets. Prior to joining RITA, Mr. Pedroff was Vice President, Marketing Communications, for Santa Barbara, Calif. based Computer Motion, Inc., a developer of computer assisted robotic surgical devices. In this position he had overall responsibility for developing integrated marketing programs targeting physicians, patients, trade publications, and the media.
Mr. DeVivo commented, "Stephen is highly accomplished at communicating the clinical benefits of medical devices to both physician and patient audiences and he has an extensive track record of developing market awareness through well-executed, high-profile communications programs." Mr. DeVivo continued, "His primary focus will be on aggressively building marketing campaigns to support our domestic and international sales programs, thereby increasing physician and patient awareness of the benefits of minimally invasive radiofrequency ablation of cancerous tumors."
Prior to joining Computer Motion, Mr. Pedroff was Director of Strategic Business Development for Salus Media, Inc., a Carpinteria, Calif. based company producing interactive healthcare information Internet portals for corporate human resources organizations. From 1987-1998 Mr. Pedroff owned a marketing company based in Santa Barbara, Calif., specializing in developing integrated marketing programs for new product introductions in the medical device and consumer product markets. Mr. Pedroff was also an Executive Producer for Reston, Va. based America Online, Inc., developing the company's first interactive entertainment brand, "Telluride Avalanche."
About RITA Medical Systems, Inc.
RITA Medical Systems develops, manufactures and markets innovative products for patients with solid cancerous or benign tumors. The proprietary RITA system uses radiofrequency energy to heat tissue to a high enough temperature to ablate it or cause cell death. While the Company's current focus is on liver cancer and metastatic bone cancer, the Company believes that its minimally invasive technology may in the future be applied to other types of tumors, including tumors of the lung, breast, uterus, prostate and kidney. The Company has received regulatory clearance in major markets worldwide, including the United States. In March 2000, RITA became the first radiofrequency ablation company to receive specific FDA clearance for unresectable liver lesions in addition to its previous general FDA clearance for the ablation of soft tissue. In October 2002, RITA again became the first company to receive specific FDA clearance, this time, for the palliation of pain associated with metastatic lesions involving bone. The Company has sold over 45,000 of its disposable devices throughout the world.
The statements in this news release related to the Company's technology are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Information regarding these risks is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For further information, please contact: investors, Matt Clawson,
matt@allencaron.com, or media, Len Hall, len@allencaron.com, of Allen & Caron
Inc, +1-949-474-4300, for RITA Medical Systems, Inc.; or Don Stewart, Chief
Financial Officer, dstewart@ritamed.com, or Stephen Pedroff, VP Marketing
Comm., spedroff@ritamed.com, of RITA Medical Systems, Inc., +1-650-314-3400.
SOURCE RITA Medical Systems, Inc.