MUMBAI, INDIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/18/13 -- Nueclear Healthcare Ltd (NHL), a radiology diagnostics company aiming to provide low cost nuclear imaging services in India, today announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to receive INR 22 crores from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). NHL, an affiliate of Thyrocare Technologies Limited (which previously received an investment from NVP), will use the new funds to further its goal of making affordable PET (Positron Emission Tomography scan) accessible to cancer patients. Also as a part of today's announcement, Sohil Chand, Managing Director of NVP India, will join NHL's board of directors.

India has ~2.5m cancer patients with 30-40% new cases reported each year. Though PET scans use state-of-the-art technology and are incredibly effective in accurate detection of the location of cancerous cells as well as staging of cancer, only 15-20% of cancer patients have access to these scans due to high costs. NHL plans to offer steep discounts compared to market prices through planned facility development and extremely attractive rates for purchasing equipment through its partnership with GE Healthcare. NHL's pricing will be more than 50% below current market prices in order to generate large volumes while still creating economic value.

NHL will provide PET-CT and selectively SPECT scanning facilities through standalone centers. In cities where there is potential for high offtake, NHL will co-locate Cyclotrons in order to make the raw material supply for PET-CTs more efficient and economical.

Commented Dr. A Velumani, Founder & Managing Director of Nueclear Healthcare Limited: "Our continued partnership with NVP validates the firm's commitment to the diagnostic healthcare industry. Much like Thyrocare helped create and expand the market for pathology over the last 16 years by making tests affordable and available pan-India, NHL aims to amplify the market for PET-CT-based testing based on a similar philosophy. NVP's investment in NHL will foster sustained growth and discovery while we offset costs for cancer patients who are most in need of this invaluable technology."

Added Sohil Chand, NVP India: "Under the direction of Dr. Velumani, whose storied career as a nuclear scientist with BARC (India's leading atomic and nuclear research center) speaks for itself, Nueclear Healthcare Limited is poised to transform the Indian nuclear medicine diagnostics market. Currently fraught with numerous operational inefficiencies, NHL plans to overhaul this large market through dedication to nuclear diagnostics awareness and affordability to cancer patients. We look forward to working with Nueclear's exceptional team to help take grow the business further."

ABOUT NUECLEAR HEALTHCARE LTD (NHL)
Nueclear Healthcare Ltd (NHL) is the brainchild of Dr. A Velumani, Founder of Thyrocare Group. Thyrocare Group is the industry leader, trendsetter and an innovator in the Indian diagnostic industry. Thyrocare is a single laboratory for a billion population. It is a network of more than 20,000 Service Centers across the country, with ISO 9001-2000 certification, NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditations. Thyrocare's network is vast enough to process 100,000 tests per day in its current facilities in Mumbai.

Having established an economy of scale in laboratory testing, Dr. A Velumani believes a similar volume-based approach in cancer diagnostics using nuclear medicine will help tackle the huge cancer incidence in India. NHL's vision is to set up 20 Medical Cyclotron facilities across India to bring down the cost burden of isotope used for cancer diagnosis. The hub and spoke model with strategically installed medical cyclotrons will support 120 PET/CT imaging centres with each cyclotron capable of servicing 12 imaging centres.
www.thyrocare.com | www.nueclear.com

About Norwest Venture Partners (NVP)
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a multi-stage investment firm that has partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 50 years. The firm manages over $3.7 billion in capital and has funded more than 500 companies since inception. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, NVP has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including: technology, information services, business services, financial services, consumer products/services and healthcare. For more information visit: www.nvp.com.

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