Healthcare Technologies announced that it and its subsidiary, Savyon Diagnostics Ltd., entered into an agreement with Dr. Martin Lee, founder and former chief executive officer of Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory, to organize a new Israeli company to acquire Savyon's clinical laboratory diagnostics business for a purchase price of approximately $1.9 million. Savyon will continue to own and operate its clinical laboratory genetic diagnostics business.

Healthcare and Dr. Lee will each own fifty percent of the newly organized company, and Dr. Lee will be the chief executive officer of this company. The purchase price will be payable as follows:

$770,000 was paid upon the execution of the agreement, $430,000 will be paid within 90 days and the remaining $700,000 will be paid in 35 monthly installments of $20,000 each. The funds to pay the first $1.2 million of the purchase price will be provided to the new company in the form of loans from Dr. Lee.

Dr. Lee was a founder, Chief Executive Director and Laboratory Director of Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory, with almost 300 employees and doing business in over 30 countries. Dr. Lee has Ph.D. in biochemistry and microbiology. His career has included senior clinical positions at Lakeview and Meadowlands Clinical Lab Services, Rockland Medilabs, Corning Medical, Coulter Electronics and Pharmacia Fine Chemicals. He has thirty-eight scientific publications, has been issued four U.S. patents, and has two pending.

Daniel Kropf, Chairman and President of Healthcare Technologies, commented, "The opportunity to work together with such a distinguished senior veteran of the medical diagnostics industry as Dr. Lee, makes us all very excited about the future of this new company that we are now creating.Dr. Lee has a long professional career as a laboratory director and scientist, as well as an entrepreneur and businessman. His relationship with Healthcare Technologies provides crucially needed access to the U.S. markets. At the same time, his tremendous scientific and business experience in clinical medicine, clinical diagnostics, project management and product development makes him the perfect CEO to lead our new venture. We look forward to sharing future accomplishments with Dr. Lee."

Dr. Nir Navot, the current CEO of Savyon Diagnostics will continue to manage Savyon's clinical laboratory genetic diagnostics business aiming to develop it as a leading provider of molecular biology-based tools for the diagnosis of genetically inherited disease and predisposition to disease.