Chairman's AGM Statement

AORTECH INTERNATIONAL PLC 26 August 1999 AGM STATEMENT At today's Annual General Meeting of AorTech International plc, the Scottish-based manufacturer of cardio-vascular devices, the Chairman, Gordon Wright, made the following statement: 'Clearly we are going through a very exciting time in our development. The recent announcement of our securing rights to the intellectual property, including the USA patents, for TruCCOMS, the innovative new Continuous Cardiac Output Monitoring System, has been extremely well- received. We are delighted with that response. We are making real progress towards regulatory approval for this product and we believe that it will have a significant worldwide market. 'I am pleased to be able to report that satisfactory progress continues in our core businesses. In summary, these are the manufacturing and selling the Ultracor mechanical valve and the new mitral repair system, the sales and marketing of the Tissuemed valve together with the manufacturing of catheter components for Novoste Inc. 'Our new heart valve project is making good progress and remains on track. In my recent statement regarding TruCCOMS I made reference to our Australian joint venture, Elastomedic, having signed evaluation agreements with five major corporations. We continue to believe that the Elast-Eon biomaterials have far reaching applications in a range of implant devices. 'As we said at the time of the fundraising we are looking at using some of the funds to make acquisitions. We expect to be in a position to make a further announcement shortly. 'All in all we have real confidence in AorTech's exciting new technologies and their future potential in the medical device market.' Enquiries: AorTech International plc Tel: 01698 746699 Eddie McDaid, Managing Director College Hill Tel: 0171 457 2020 Michael Padley