AUSTIN, Texas - (Business Wire) ArthroCare Corp. (NASDAQ: ARTC) announced today that, as expected, it received a NASDAQ Staff Determination Letter on August 13, 2008, stating that the Company is not in compliance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14), and that its common stock is therefore subject to delisting. The letter was issued in accordance with NASDAQ procedures because the Company did not timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. The Company is appealing this determination and intends to request a hearing before the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel. There can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company
’s request for continued listing. Pending a decision by the Panel, the Company
’s common stock will remain listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market.
ABOUT ARTHROCARE
Founded in 1993, ArthroCare Corp. (www.arthrocare.com) is a highly innovative, multi-business medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets minimally invasive surgical products. With these products, ArthroCare targets a multi-billion dollar market opportunity across several medical specialties, significantly improving existing surgical procedures and enabling new, minimally invasive procedures. Many of ArthroCare’s products are based on its patented Coblation technology, which uses low-temperature radiofrequency energy to gently and precisely dissolve rather than burn soft tissue — minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Used in more than four million surgeries worldwide, Coblation-based devices have been developed and marketed for sports medicine; spine/neurologic; ear, nose and throat (ENT); cosmetic; urologic and gynecologic procedures. ArthroCare also has added a number of novel technologies to its portfolio, including Opus Medical sports medicine, Parallax spine and Applied Therapeutics ENT products, to complement Coblation within key indications.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information provided in this notice and the attached explanation includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the Company’s plan to request a hearing before the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel, its expectations regarding NASDAQ delisting proceedings, its response to these proceedings and the listing of its common stock on NASDAQ.
Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on beliefs and assumptions by management, and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and ArthroCare undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Examples of these factors include, but are not limited to, unanticipated accounting issues or audit issues regarding the financial data for the periods being restated in the Company’s previously announced restatement; the ability of the Company and its independent registered public accounting firm to confirm information or data identified in the review, being overseen by the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors, of the scope and nature of the Company’s internal controls (the “Review”); unanticipated issues regarding the Review that prevent or delay the Company’s independent registered public auditing firm from relying upon the Review or that require additional efforts, documentation, procedures, review or investigation; the Company’s ability to design or improve internal controls to address issues detected in the Review or by management in its reassessment of the Company’s internal controls; the impact upon the Company’s operations of the Review, legal compliance matters or internal controls, improvement and remediation; difficulties in controlling expenses, including costs of the Review, legal compliance matters or internal controls review, improvement and remediation; the Company’s ability to become current in its SEC periodic reporting requirements; the outcome of pending litigation; general business, economic and political conditions; competitive developments in the medical devices market; changes in applicable legislative or regulatory requirements; the Company’s ability to effectively and successfully implement its financial and strategic alternatives, as well as business strategies, and manage the risks in its business; the reactions of the marketplace to the foregoing; and other risks and uncertainties discussed more fully in the Company’s SEC filings, including those discussed under Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007.
ArthroCare Corporation
Michael Gluk, 512-391-3906 (investors)
Chief Financial Officer
or
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Joele Frank, 212-355-4449 x 107 (media)
