Covington Associates Advises Inverness Medical Innovations on its Acquisition of Ostex International, Inc.

Acquisition expands Inverness’ Presence in the Women’s Health market

Boston, MA — July 1, 2003 — Covington Associates, seasoned M&A advisors to technology and healthcare, today announced that its client, Waltham-based Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., (“Inverness”), a leading provider of women’s health and nutritional products and developer of advanced medical devices, has completed its acquisition of Ostex International, Inc. (“Ostex”).  Ostex is a developer and marketer of technologies and products for the management of osteoporosis.  Under the terms of a previously disclosed merger agreement, as amended, each share of Ostex common stock was converted into approximately .1263 shares of Inverness common stock.  The aggregate number of shares of Inverness common stock issued in the merger and reserved for issuance upon the exercise of Ostex options and warrants assumed in the merger was approximately 1.9 million.

Inverness Medical Innovations has built its women’s health, nutritional and chronic disease management capabilities since its emergence as a spin-off entity in November 2001 upon sale of its diabetes-related business to Johnson & Johnson (on which Covington Associates also advised Inverness).  In a previously issued statement, Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness Medical Innovations said, “This transaction should send a clear signal that we are serious about establishing a pre-eminent position in the women’s health market… Not only does Ostex provide an excellent intellectual property platform and additional access to worldwide distribution, it also offers attractive opportunities with our other business units.”

Speaking on behalf of Covington Associates, Tom Cibotti, partner in the firm, said “Covington Associates continues to enjoy its advisory partnership with Inverness and its CEO Ron Zwanziger as the company works to expand its intellectual property platform and bring innovative products to the market.  This newest transaction acts as a great complement to Wampole Laboratories and highlights Inverness’ commitment to aggressive growth in the diagnostics arena.”

About Inverness Medical Innovations

Inverness Medical Innovations, headquartered in Waltham, MA, manufactures and sells products for the women’s health market, and is engaged in the business of developing, acquiring, manufacturing, and marketing advanced medical device technologies. The Company is presently exploring new opportunities for its proprietary electrochemical and other technologies in a variety of consumer oriented applications including immuno-diagnostics with a focus on women’s health and cardiology.  The Company’s women’s health and nutritional products are distributed to consumers through established retail distribution networks such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens and CVS.

About Covington Associates

Covington Associates are seasoned M&A advisors to technology and healthcare. Focused exclusively on mergers and acquisitions, Covington Associates has established a track record of success based on deep domain experience and an unrivaled level of service from a team of senior advisors. Since 1991, the firm has successfully completed over 50 transactions ranging in size from $10 million to over $1 billion in e-services, software, IT services, and healthcare technologies. To learn more about Covington Associates, visit www.covingtonassociates.com.