OTHER NEWS - Jan. 19, 1995

Birtcher Medical Systems Announces Major Layoffs: The electrosurgical equipment company announced that its entire office, research and management staff, as well as most of its sales force, will be laid off and its Irvine headquarters closed if shareholders approve a merger with a New York-based competitor. More than 100 of the company’s 120 employees, including 83 in Irvine, would lose their jobs in the merger proposed in December by Conmed Corp. Analysts said Conmed’s primary interest is in Birtcher’s products and its contract manufacturing operation in Mexico. The company would have little use for Birtcher’s management and scientific staff, which would duplicate its own.