Retractable Technologies (RVP) Victim of $1m Kickback by Competitor, Says NY Times

InvesTrend Communications this morning released an updated note on Retractable Technologies Inc. The note covers recent news reported in the New York Times and the company’s most recent press release celebrating production of its 100 millionth safety device.

The note is copied below. Investors may access the complete InvesTrend archive of information on Retractable Technologies online at http://www.investrend.com.

Investors can read the entire text of the New York Times article as well as others in its ongoing “Medicine’s Middlemen” series online at http://216.234.225.2/external.asp?b=577&id=69&from=pl.

News Note from InvesTrend Research
A Retractable Technologies (RVP) challenge against key competitors was highlighted this past week in a major article in the New York Times stating that contracts sought by Retractable but won by Becton Dickinson may have been awarded by Novation, a buying group representing one-third of the nation’s hospitals, due to an improper “kickback” of $1m.

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc), questioned whether such a payment may have left doctors, nurses and patients without the “best product.”

The New York Times quoted RVP CEO Thomas Shaw as saying the payment was “improper,” and noted that Retractable never knew why it had lost the contract. The company is suing Becton Dickinson and others for conspiring to use buying groups to monopolize the hypodermic needle market. One hospital group interviewed called the payments “totally inappropriate,” and at the time of the award, the Times said some of the products had been rated by independent laboratories as “unacceptable” and “not recommended.”

Meanwhile, Retractable is celebrating the production of its 100 millionth VanishPoint® device.