MLTO Medirect Latino Inc (CE)

MEDirect Latino Inc. (OTC:MLTO), http://www.medirectlatino.org, today, announced the manufacturing and distribution of the Company's first branded line of culturally specific diabetic care products, direct-to-consumer, for the Hispanic Medicare eligible market, produced in Spanish. The Company is first to market with a full diagnostic and testing line of diabetic products focused on the Hispanic market. MEDirect Latino will build on its initial line of culturally friendly, demographically targeted, co-branded products with the introduction of additional consumable diabetes testing supplies during the Company's planned, new product roll-out over the next six months. The initial products include lancets and lancing devices manufactured for MEDirect Latino Inc., by VitalCare, under an exclusive branding license. The Company has exclusive agreements with leading pharmaceutical manufacturers for additional Spanish-language, co-branded diabetes care products, including the first Spanish-language packaged diabetic blood glucose testing meter to be produced for the Company, by Abbott Laboratories for the United States and Puerto Rico marketplaces. MEDirect Latino Inc. CEO and Co-Chairman, Mr. Raymond J. Talarico, stated, "Our research in the Medicare reimbursable market exposed a missing healthcare link that major pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors have failed to recognize - culturally specific Hispanic packaged products, targeted to the Medicare eligible diabetic consumer. MEDirect now fills that void in the marketplace." Distribution of the Company's branded lancets and lancing devices are up 42% over projections for 2005, and have received wide acceptance in the Hispanic market. Further, stated Mr. Talarico, "The Company continues to create barriers to entry through the development of its branded products, specifically designed and marketed to the Hispanic community, which is the fastest growing segment of our industry." The Company will feature these exclusive products in its nationwide media campaign that will begin in June 2005. The Company will describe these products, the national media campaign and its revised sales and profit forecasts in its nationwide conference call on Tuesday, May 17th, which has previously been announced. About MEDirect Latino: MEDirect Latino (OTC:MLTO), http://www.medirectlatino.org, is a rapidly growing, uniquely positioned provider of direct-to-consumer Medicare reimbursed medical products focused exclusively on chronic diseases afflicting the Hispanic community in the United States and Puerto Rico. MEDirect is the only company positioned to serve the U.S. Hispanic healthcare market as a direct-to-consumer Medicare provider on an authentically national level. The Company's current focus is the distribution of products for the treatment of Type II diabetes specifically because of its disproportionate impact and increasing diagnosis rate within the US Hispanic population, noting an incidence of 120% higher than among non-Hispanic whites. Type II diabetes was also targeted because of its unique status within the Medicare reimbursement regime and because of its high degree of correlation to other chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease. These other conditions represent considerable future market potential that will allow MEDirect to efficiently scale its model by leveraging its existing client base and infrastructure. The current Hispanic market for MEDirect's products is conservatively estimated at approximately $650MM in the continental United States. The size of the opportunity is understated by such figures as an estimated 925,000 of the over 3.1 million Hispanics in the United States over 65 eligible to receive Medicare benefits are currently collecting these benefits with an estimate that over 1.4 million of those Medicare-eligible Hispanics have diabetes (implying a potential continental U.S. market for MEDirect products of approximately $1 billion). Information on MEDirect Conference Call: MEDirect Latino Inc. will hold an investor's conference call at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, May 17, 2005. MEDirect CEO & Co-Chairman, Mr. Raymond Talarico will host the call, with all executives of the Company making presentations on various aspects of the Company's business plan and the depth of the Hispanic healthcare industry. Interested parties may hear the conference call by telephone. -0- *T Instructions for hearing the conference call: To hear the conference call as it takes place: Call 1-800-434-1335 in the United States or Canada or; Call 1-404-920-6620 in the Atlanta Area or Internationally Pin Code: 098756 Exclusive: For Expedited Entry into the Conference: Please register via this link for your Direct Access 800 number. www.AccuConference.com/MLTO *T Forward-Looking Statements: Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as the term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances. Should events occur which materially affect any comments made within this press release; the Company will appropriately inform the public.