Pentax Corporation is pleased to announce that Microline Pentax, Inc., its 100%-owned U.S. subsidiary, has purchased the assets of Gyrx, LLC of the U.S.A. and its subsidiary, Endox, LLC, on May 22, 2006 (U.S. local time). The total value of the purchase was US$11.5 million, which includes intellectual properties, manufacturing technologies, developmental expertise and trade rights for the companies' clip applier products and exclusive surgical clips.

The clip applier is a surgical device used in abdominal endoscopic operations to ligate tissues. Measuring only five millimeters in diameter, clip appliers produced by Gyrx and Endox effectively reduce the patient's pain and stress during laparoscopic surgery, making them highly regarded and particularly useful in minimally invasive medical procedures. The manufacturing technology used to create the spring-type clip design has attracted great attention for its ability to ligate tissues at uniform pressure.

Microline Pentax has handled crush-type clip appliers, which can ligate tissues at the most appropriate pressure level for a particular application. This purchase, therefore, makes Microline Pentax the only company in the laparoscopic surgery market to handle both types of clip appliers, enabling it to drastically expand its marketing activities to a wider range of medical applications. The intellectual properties, manufacturing technologies and developmental expertise acquired by Microline Pentax will also enable it to develop value-added medical devices for use in other abdominal endoscopic procedures, eventually contributing to the reinforcement of Pentax's overall medical product business.