Unilife Wins Supply Contract with Nation's Largest Healthcare Alliance

YORK, P.A., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Unilife Corporation ("Unilife" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: UNIS; ASX: UNS) today announced it has been awarded a two-year contract by Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P., the group purchasing enterprise of the Premier healthcare alliance, for the supply of its Unitract® 1mL safety syringes.

Premier, Inc. is the nation's largest healthcare alliance, helping to improve performance and providing group contracting to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and over 76,000 healthcare sites nationwide.

Mr. Alan Shortall, CEO of Unilife said: "Our Unitract 1mL safety syringes, which are designed for use when drawing medication from a vial or ampoule, can provide optimal protection to healthcare workers and others at risk of infection from needlestick injuries.  Unitract represents the first and only known range of insulin and tuberculin syringes with automatic, operator-controlled needle retraction features that are fully integrated within the syringe.

"We are delighted to have signed our first Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) contract with Premier for the sale of our Unitract 1mL syringes to U.S. healthcare facilities. In addition to being one of the largest GPOs in the U.S., Premier is also a leading national advocate for injection safety. Despite the widespread conversion of U.S. healthcare facilities to the mandatory use of needlestick prevention products, healthcare workers continue to remain at risk of harm from many types of conventional safety syringe technologies. We look forward to supporting Premier and its members to enhance the level of protection offered to U.S. healthcare workers."

For additional Unitract inquiries, please visit www.unitract.com, or contact Unilife at info@unitract.com or the Unitract customer service department toll free number: +1 888 698 1133. Premier members seeking to purchase Unitract 1mL syringes are encouraged to quote contract number SD-NS-007.

About Unitract Syringes

The Unitract range of 1mL insulin and tuberculin syringes utilize a unique combination of automatic and fully integrated safety features to provide optimal protection to healthcare workers and patients at risk of needlestick injuries when injecting a drug supplied in a vial or ampoule. An audible, tactile click signals the automatic (passive) activation of the needle retraction mechanism upon the full injection of the dose. Operators can control the speed at which the needle is withdrawn directly from the body into the barrel of the syringe by relieving thumb or finger pressure on the plunger. The plunger is then locked to prevent needle re-exposure, tampering or device reuse. Unitract 1mL syringes are manufactured at Unilife's FDA-registered manufacturing facilities in York, Pennsylvania.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 76,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington.

About Unilife Corporation

Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ:UNIS / ASX: UNS) is a U.S.-based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill® and Unitract® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container. The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs.  For more information on Unilife, please visit www.unilife.com 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Our management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and those described from time to time in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

General: UNIS-G

SOURCE Unilife Corporation