ResMed's Peter Farrell Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2005 National Winner In Health Sciences Category

December 9, 2005

Peter C. Farrell, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2005 national award winner in the Health Sciences Category. Farrell was recognized for leading ResMed from its inception 16 years ago into a major force in manufacturing medical equipment for treating sleep-disordered breathing.

Farrell was honored as the national winner in the Health Sciences Category at a gala in Palm Springs . Awards were given in 10 additional categories. All Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year winners were selected from approximately 400 regional award recipients by an independent panel of judges.

Based in San Diego, ResMed's principal manufacturing operations focus on a machine that helps people suffering from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and its most common cause, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). OSA is a potentially fatal disorder where breathing stops during sleep for 10 seconds or more. During OSA, carbon dioxide builds up in the blood and damages vital organs such as the heart, brain and lungs. ResMed's device offered the first successful noninvasive treatment of OSA.

Academia's Loss Is ResMed's Gain

Australia native Farrell was well ensconced in academia as chairman of biomedical engineering at the University of New South Wales when industry lured him away. He joined Baxter Healthcare as director of its Japanese subsidiary and vice president of research and development.

When Baxter Healthcare decided not to pursue a developed technology to address SDB/OSA, Farrell organized a management buyout of Baxter's sleep technology, creating ResMed to develop and manufacture devices for SDB/OSA.

SDB/OSA affects an estimated 20 million people in the U.S. alone and millions more worldwide. Today, ResMed controls nearly one-third of the estimated $1.5 billion world market for SDB products. ResMed sells more than 50,000 machines a month as well as some 200,000 masks used with the machines.

Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 National Finalists in Health Sciences Category

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year national finalists in the Health Sciences Category were Thomas F. Frist, Jr., M.D., chairman emeritus of HCA (NYSE: HCA), the Nashville firm that owns and operates hospitals and free-standing surgery centers in 23 states and in Europe; and Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Cephalon Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH), an international biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Frazer, Pennsylvania.

Overall Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 National Winner

Arthur Blank, the co-founder of The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) and owner and CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia Force, was named the Overall Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 National Winner.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program is nationally sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Program

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program was created and is produced by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. As the first award of its kind, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic and growing businesses. The program honors entrepreneurs through regional, national and global award programs in over 100 cities and 35 countries.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, is committed to restoring the public's trust in professional services firms and in the quality of financial reporting. Its 106,000 people in 140 countries pursue the highest levels of integrity, quality, and professionalism in providing a range of sophisticated services centered on our core competencies of auditing, accounting, tax, and transactions. Further information about Ernst & Young and its approach to a variety of business issues can be found at www.ey.com/us/perspectives. Ernst & Young refers to all the members of the global Ernst & Young organization.