Fda Approves New Fonar Mri For Marketing

Business Wire, April 18, 1995

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 1995--FONAR Corporation (symbol FONR), a leading manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, and holder of the world's first MRI patent announced today that it has received FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval to market its new MRI scanner, the QUAD(TM) 7000, in the United States and abroad. Because of its revolutionary magnet design, this new product features an unusually large patient environment - open on all four sides and with enough room for a child to actually sit upright inside the scanning area.

A Company spokesman says the QUAD 7000 will sell for $650,000, a fraction of the cost of the common tunnel-shaped MRIs presently in use. The low price for the QUAD reflects the Company's long- standing desire to make MRI more affordable to the general public. Also, in making MRI cost-competitive with other diagnostic modalities, it extends the usefullness of MRI into new areas of medicine. The QUAD 7000 will operate at 3500 Gauss, far more powerful than the so-called 'open MRIs' presently on the market.

The QUAD's 4-way access to the center of the magnet, where the patient lies, opens the doors to new and exciting MRI procedures. These include MRI-directed surgery and low-cost MRI mammography which is made possible by high-speed scanning protocols and a unique, multiple-bed configuration of the QUAD. With MRI mammography, women are not exposed to x-rays and they may be scanned in their street clothes. A Company spokesman says developmental work in these areas is already underway.

With the FDA's green light for marketing the QUAD 7000, FONAR will immediately commence sales and marketing activities. Because of the QUAD's non-claustrophobic patient environment, its high quality of diagnostic pictures, its low price, and its suitability for meeting the continuing demands for low cost medical care, the Company expects vigorous sales activities in 1995.

CONTACT: FONAR CORPORATION

David Terry, 919/847-9535