ELEKTA RECEIVES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CORPORATE EXCELLENCE
ELEKTA RECEIVES ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CORPORATE EXCELLENCEElekta in the U.S. has received the prestigious "Achievement Award 2004for corporate excellence". The award is presented by the Swedish TradeCouncil, the Consulate General of Sweden and the Swedish-AmericanChamber of Commerce in San Francisco and is awarded to Swedish companieswith affiliations in the U.S. The award recognizes the excellentcontribution Elekta has made to Swedish-American trade in its marketingand sales efforts.The common element for all Achievement Award recipients is success. Thenominated companies were judged by the following criteria:· Overall performance, competitiveness and capabilities· Commercial success and development· Achieved market positionReasons for success in the USElekta entered the US market already in 1983 with an office in Atlanta,where Elekta's US headquarter is located today. The US is an importantmarket for Elekta both in size, 40 percent of total revenues, and inclinical and technology demand.Elekta installed its first Leksell Gamma Knife® in the US at theUniversity of Pittsburgh in 1987, the same year as the first unit wasinstalled at the Karolinska Hospital in Sweden.The introduction of Leksell Gamma Knife® in the US has been a greatsuccess. Today more or less all neurosurgical departments at majorhospitals in the US perform neurosurgery using Leksell Gamma Knife®. Ithas become the gold standard of care for non-invasive treatment of braindisorders including functional diseases i.e. epilepsy and Parkinson'sdisease.By the end of December 2003, there were 193 Leksell Gamma Knife® unitsinstalled world-wide of which 86 units are in the US.Elekta is also a leading supplier in the U.S. and in the world ofsystems for radiation therapy of cancer.When Elekta acquired Philips radiotherapy division in 1997 the marketshare in the US for systems for radiation of cancer was less than 10percent. Today Elekta's market share is close to 25 percent. Elekta istoday the second largest supplier in the world of systems for radiationtreatment of cancer.This is a result of a strong research and technical development program,started when Elekta took over from Philips, which today has broughtElekta to a position of technological leadership in the radiationtherapy market. As an example, Elekta is today the only company withsystems in clinical operation that are capable of image-guided radiationtherapy - integrating equipment for high resolution 3D x-ray images ontoa linear accelerator. The US is taking the lead in this development andit is therefore important for Elekta to be a strong player in the USmarketplace. For further information, please contact:International: Peter Ejemyr, Group VP Corporate Communications, ElektaAB (publ),Phone: +46 733 611 000, e-mail: [email protected] States: Lars Jonsteg, VP Investor Relations North America,Elekta, USAPhone: +1 770-670-2419, e-mail: [email protected] is a world-leading supplier of advanced and innovative radiationoncology and neurosurgery solutions and services for precise treatmentof cancer and brain disorders. Elekta's solutions are clinicallyeffective, cost efficient and gentle to the patient.For additional information about Elekta, please visit www.elekta.com------------------------------------------------------------This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.netThe following files are available for download:http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/03/23/20040323BIT00540/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/03/23/20040323BIT00540/wkr0002.pdf