Business Overview
Conceptus, Inc. was formed in September 1992, and has been primarily engaged in the design, development and marketing of innovative medical products for use in the field of women's health. The Company's focus has been on the development of ESSURE, its non-incisional permanent birth control procedure for women.

ESSURE is designed to provide permanent birth control without the use of hormones or incisions. An ESSURE procedure can be preformed in a doctor's office, does not require general anesthesia, and leaves no scars. ESSURE is placed in each fallopian tube by a physician using a visually guided delivery method called "hysteroscopy". During this procedure, an ESSURE device is passed through a hysteroscope and into the fallopian tube using unique and proprietary guidewires and catheters. It was critical for these catheters to be slippery when wet, durable, and yet flexible enough to manipulate into a patient's fallopian tubes. Early in the device development process it became apparent that a lubricious coating was needed that had these characteristics.

AST's LubriLAST™ Solution
LubriLAST™ coating is a patented lubricious, non-thrombogenic, biocompatible, hydrophilic polymer coating that is uniquely formulated as an aqueous-based solution. LubriLAST™ overcomes many of the physical and processing limitations (poor adhesion, UV curing or solvent processing) associated with other commercially available hydrophilic coating processes. Conceptus investigated a variety of medical coating companies and decided to partner with AST Products, Inc. (AST). An important factor in this decision was AST's flexibility. Conceptus was allowed to work with AST's LubriLAST™ coating before committing to a licensing agreement. This gave Conceptus the ability to resolve technical issues with the device design and coating before investing in the license. Delaying the agreement until after these issues were resolved provided Conceptus large cost savings. This arrangement was possible since AST partners with its clients to help them develop customized coating solutions that meet their particular need. In its partnership with Conceptus, AST provided complete and unlimited access to its technology and close technical support throughout the entire development process. Lastly, and most critically, LubriLAST™ provided Conceptus with the slip, durability, and flexibility required for the ESSURE procedure. The consistency of LubriLAST™, coupled with AST's partnership approach fulfilled all of Conceptus' coating needs and ensured proper patient care.

About AST Products, Inc.
AST Products, Inc. (AST), headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts offers water-based, solvent free coatings for medical devices. Since 1989, AST has partnered with numerous companies in the application of its proprietary medical coating technologies to solve real-world problems. AST has a strong history in advanced research and development with an emphasis on providing customized, innovative coating solutions. The company also provides state-of-the-art tools for processing and measurement and coatings and surface modification technology for industrial applications, processing equipment and services and surface analysis instruments. AST licenses its coating technologies on both an exclusive and non-exclusive basis. For more information about AST Products please visit their website at www.astpadvance.com

Business Overview
More than 30% of hospitalized patients have one or more vascular catheters in place. Catheter-related urinary tract infections (UTI) are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and costs. In the United States alone, approximately 2 million nosicomial infections cost nearly $11 billion annually. Such staggering statistics require the medical community to utilize state-of-the-art infection control technology to reduce catheter-associated UTIs.

Hunter Urology Ltd., launched in 2001 by Gary Hunter, is focused solely on Intermittent Self-Catherterisation (ISC) and is committed to introducing products that incorporate new and future technologies. The company is devoted to bringing back an element of personal service to the urology market by focusing on patient needs while enduring cost benefits to the clinicians.

Reinforcing its commitment to patient's needs, Hunter Urology introduced the world's first antimicrobial coated catheter for ISC- antibac, after receiving CE Mark approval in December 2001. When activated with water, the unique antimicrobial surface of the antibac catheter becomes lubricious for easy insertion and removal. This dramatically reduces device-associated infection (DAI), which continues to be an unnecessary risk for patients and an economic burden to clinicians and hospitals.

AST's Customized Solution
While developing the antibac ISC catheter, Hunter Urology investigated a variety of medical coating companies. The choice was made to work with AST Products, Inc. (AST) because of its far superior coating, unique partnership approach, and its state-of-the-art technology platform-BioLAST™. An important factor in Hunter Urology's decision was AST's flexibility. Hunter Urology was allowed to work with AST's RepelaCOAT™ (formerly LubriLAST-K) coating before committing to a licensing agreement. This gave Hunter Urology the ability to resolve technical issues with the device design and coating before committing to a licensing agreement which provided Hunter Urology a large cost savings.

AST developed a customized version of the coating for Hunter Urology. The coating contains silver compound for anti-microbial effect. The customized RepelaCOAT™ coating for antibac offers the following critical components:

· Directly combats device-associated infection
· Regional effectiveness
· Low toxicity
· Simple coating process allowing the reduction of manufacturing cost
· No change to the bulk properties of devices
· Active Mechanism Releasing anti-microbial agents to prevent bacterial colonization

AST puts in extraordinary amount of effort, time and expertise when partnering with their clients. Hunter Urology was still in a start-up phase when AST lent its talent and technical experience to help Hunter Urology not only to develop the coating for the antibac catheter, but with a number of business issues, including:

· Providing Hunter Urology with Technology Support
· Researching antibac catheter problems and failures to ensure success
· Helping with legal assistance to bring the antibac catheter through the CE Mark process in Europe within a one-year time period
· Providing regulatory assistance with FDA submission
· Working with Hunter to accelerate the launch of the antibac catheter
· Searching OEM candidates to expand antibac ISC catheter market potential

About AST Products, Inc.
AST Products, headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts offers water-based, solvent free coatings for medical devices. Since 1989, AST has partnered with numerous companies through licensing agreements for its BioLAST™ medical coating technology. AST has a strong history in advanced research and development with an emphasis on providing customized, innovative coating solutions. The company also provides state-of-the-art tools for plasma processing and contact angle measurement used in industrial applications. AST licenses its coating technologies on both exclusive and non-exclusive basis. For more information about AST Products please visit their Web site at www.astpadvance.com