Amazon.com Offers Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator for Sale

October 20, 2004– Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) today announced that the Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator is now available over-the-counter (OTC) to consumers at Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), the largest online retailer to offer the product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently cleared the HeartStart Home Defibrillator for sale without a prescription, making it the first and only defibrillator to obtain OTC status. As a leading online retailer with access to tens of millions of active customer accounts, Amazon.com will play an important role in making the HeartStart Home Defibrillator more easily available to consumers for home use, where the majority of cardiac arrests occur.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a leading cause of death in the United States, claiming approximately 340,000 lives each year -- more than traffic accidents, house fires, handguns, breast cancer, prostate cancer and AIDS combined. Defibrillators provide treatment for ventricular fibrillation, the most common cause of SCA, by delivering a controlled electrical shock to restore a normal heart rhythm. For each minute that passes before defibrillation therapy is administered to a victim, the chance for survival decreases by about 10 percent. It takes an average of nine minutes for emergency professionals to reach a victim in a typical community.

“With nearly 80 percent of cardiac arrests occurring in the home, it is important to make defibrillation technology easily available to consumers,” said Deborah DiSanzo, vice president and general manager, cardiac resuscitation, Philips Medical Systems. “Offering the HeartStart Home Defibrillator at Amazon.com will help reach millions of consumers and help them prepare for an SCA emergency. Philips is a pioneer in bringing defibrillators to the home and is pleased to be making this innovative product available at Amazon.com.”

“Amazon.com is excited to offer customers such an innovative and important product,” said Maria Renz, Director, Health & Personal Care on Amazon.com. “Making this product widely available to our millions of customers will help ensure that those who want to be prepared can easily find and buy it.”

Patented technologies and an award-winning design make the HeartStart Home Defibrillator fast to learn and easy to use. Designed around the user, it provides clear, calm voice instructions that guide responders through every step of the defibrillation process. It even reminds them to call for emergency help and offers instructions for administering CPR. Patented voice coaching for both adult and infant/child CPR provides audio cues for each breath as well as the appropriate number and rate of chest compressions. Advanced SMART Pad technology senses the responder's actions with the pads and automatically adjusts the pace of the voice instructions to meet the individual responder's needs.

Daily self-tests of multiple system components, including a check for pads readiness, renders the device virtually maintenance free. A loud chirp alerts family members when any part of the system needs attention. The specially designed Infant/Child SMART Pads cartridge, available by prescription, makes the HeartStart Home Defibrillator more appropriate for use on infants and children under the age of 8 or weighing less than 55 lbs.

The HeartStart Home Defibrillator, along with an owner’s manual and instructional video, is available to consumers by visiting www.amazon.com. Consumers can view a step-by-step overview of the HeartStart Home Defibrillator, as well as read about sudden cardiac arrest and the importance of early defibrillation.

SOURCE Royal Philips Electronics