ProstateHealthIndex.org Website Offers Latest on Assessing Prostate Cancer Risk

Site Provides Information on New Blood Test and Unique Index to Help Reduce Unnecessary Biopsies

NYON, Switzerland, September 15, 2010 - ProstateHealthIndex.org - a major online resource to help assess risk for
prostate cancer - is now available in five languages, English, French German,
Italian and Spanish.

Created by the scientific team behind the world's largest independent
medical diagnostics company - Beckman Coulter, Inc. (European headquarters
in Nyon, Switzerland) - ProstateHealthIndex.org provides educational
information for patients, physicians and clinical laboratory staff.

The newly launched site describes the medical research behind a new blood
test (p2PSA), and the Prostate Health Index (phi), that scientists have
created to significantly improve a patient's risk assessment for prostate
cancer.

"The dilemma faced by men with an elevated prostate-specific antigen, or
PSA test, is how to find out if they actually have prostate cancer,"
explained Peter Heseltine, M.D, medical director for Beckman Coulter. "That
usually meant undergoing an invasive prostate biopsy. The search has been
underway for several years to find a non-invasive way of assessing cancer
risk."

And Dr. Heseltine added: "The Prostate Health Index (phi) provides
clinicians with a way of combining and interpreting three blood tests that
measure different forms of the PSA protein. The index is a risk assessment
tool for prostate cancer. A low phi result indicates a lower risk of prostate
cancer, while an elevated phi suggests that it may be appropriate to have a
prostate biopsy."

The new website encourages dialogue between patients, physicians and
laboratory professionals, and provides guidance and education, fostering more
informed prostate biopsy decision-making. Included are links to medical
resources and the latest scientific studies.

As one example, recent findings from the European Randomized Study of
Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) showed a 30 percent mortality reduction
from prostate cancer deaths if PSA levels were monitored over approximately
seven years. So, while the current PSA test informs doctors there may be a
problem with the prostate, it does not indicate what the specific problem is
- cancer or no cancer.

Notes to Editor

Patient Leaflet

To obtain a free digital copy of the leaflet Do I need a prostate biopsy?
simply send your e-mail address by filling out the form at
www.prostatehealthindex.org/patient1-request-form.asp

Research findings

These include a recent study published in The Journal of Urology, which
confirmed that the phi score is a better predictor of prostate cancer risk
than PSA or percent free PSA alone in men 50 years of age and older with a
PSA range of 2-10 ng/mL who had a digital rectal exam with no suspicious
findings.[1]

Reference

[1] Le BV, Griffin CR, Loeb S, Carvalhal GF, Kan D, Baumann NA, Catalona
WJ. [-2] pro-PSA is more accurate than total and free PSA in differentiating
prostate cancer from benign disease in a prospective prostate cancer
screening study. J of Urology 2010 April; 183(4):1355-1359.

The Beckman Coulter phi

This combines three automated blood tests into one index that estimates a
man's probability of having prostate cancer found on biopsy. Beckman Coulter
phi is a composite score of Access Hybritech PSA, free PSA and the new p2PSA
(not available in the United States) assay, which measures the free PSA
isoform [-2]proPSA. This assessment can only be carried out in a hospital or
medically approved laboratory.

About Beckman Coulter

Beckman Coulter, Inc., a $3.3 billion company based in California, USA,
develops, manufactures and markets products that simplify, automate and
innovate complex biomedical tests. More than 200,000 Beckman Coulter systems
operate in laboratories around the world, supplying critical information for
improving patient health and reducing the cost of care. For more information,
visit www.beckmancoulter.com.

Contact: Jennie Wilde, Carver Wilde Communications, Email: jennie at carverwilde.com, Tel: +44(0)7799-412230 / +44(0)20-3178-5563