CryoLife, Inc. Enters A Long-Term Agreement With Mid-South Tissue Bank

ATLANTA, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), the leader in the development and commercialization of tissue-engineered implantable heart valves, vascular grafts and protein based surgical adhesives, today announced that it entered into a five year preferred provider agreement with Mid-South Tissue Bank of Memphis, Tennessee. Under the terms of the agreement, Mid- South will send to CryoLife for processing all cardiac and vascular tissues and selected orthopaedic soft tissues recovered by Mid-South Tissue Bank from their geographic recovery area in western Tennessee. Mid-South has been a leading tissue bank since it was founded in 1992.

The incoming tissues will be processed using CryoLife's SynerGraft(R) SG technology that depopulates the native cells of the donor tissue, providing a collagen matrix that has the potential to repopulate itself with the patient's own cells, potentially eliminating the risk of tissue rejection and reducing the risk of infection.

Steven G. Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer, CryoLife, Inc., said, "We are excited about the new long-term relationship with Mid-South at this critical time. Through this partnership, we can provide surgeons and patients in the western Tennessee area with access to a wide range of new SG preserved allograft* tissues as they become available."

Cathy Underwood, Chief Executive Officer of Mid-South, said, "We are pleased to have the opportunity to expand our relationship with CryoLife. The decision to enter a long-term agreement with CryoLife is based upon their ongoing commitment to the donor community and to research and development of allograft tissues. We are intrigued by the potential benefits of the SynerGraft technology. Additionally, we believe this agreement will help assure that as many patients as possible in our geographic area will benefit from tissues processed using the SG technology."

Founded in 1984, CryoLife, Inc., is the leader in the development and commercialization of implantable living human tissues for use in cardiovascular, vascular and orthopaedic surgeries throughout the United States and Canada. The Company's BioGlue(R) surgical adhesive is approved as an adjunct for acute thoracic aortic dissections under HDE regulations in the United States and is CE marked in the European Union and approved in Canada for use in vascular and pulmonary sealing and repair. The Company also manufactures the SynerGraft(R) heart valve, the world's first tissue- engineered heart valve replacement and the CryoLife-O'Brien(R) and CryoLife- Ross(R) stentless porcine heart valves, which are CE marked for distribution within the European Community. The Company's SynerGraft processed human heart valves and vascular grafts are marketed under the trade names of CryoValve(R) SG and CryoVein(R) SG, respectively.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time or that express management's beliefs, expectations or hopes regarding future occurrences are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These future events may not occur when expected, if at all, and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include the possibility that tissue treated with the SynerGraft SG process will not repopulate with human recipient cells, or if repopulation does occur, that it will not have the anticipated effects, that future clinical SynerGraft SG test results will prove less encouraging than current results, that SynerGraft SG regulatory submissions will not be ready when planned or that anticipated regulatory approvals will not be obtained on a timely basis, if at all, that tissue treated with the SynerGraft SG process will not be accepted by surgeons, and other risk factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999.

For additional information about the company, visit CryoLife's web site: http://www.cryolife.com .

SOURCE CryoLife, Inc.

CONTACT: Roy Vogeltanz, Vice President, Corporate Communications of CryoLife, Inc., 800-438-8285/