Boston, MA — Covington Associates announced it has acted as financial advisor to Inverness Medical Innovations (AMEX: IMA), in its definitive merger agreement to acquire Matria Healthcare, Inc. (AMEX: MATR). Inverness will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Matria for $39.00 per share of Matria common stock, payable $6.50 in cash plus $32.50 in convertible preferred stock issued by Inverness. The proposed transaction would take the form of an indirect acquisition through a merger of a newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Inverness with and into Matria.

Matria Healthcare, headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, provides health enhancement, disease management and high-risk pregnancy management programs and services through its Health Enhancement and Women's and Children's Health divisions. Inverness intends to integrate Matria with the recently acquired Alere and Paradigm to form a health management subsidiary.

Commenting on the proposed transaction, Ron Zwanziger CEO of Inverness said "We are pleased to have Matria join the Inverness health management strategy. Matria brings specialized expertise in women's health which will complement our rapid diagnostics in that area. Additionally, Matria's Quality Oncology product is the market leader in value-added services for oncology. Matria fits beautifully into our Paradigm acquisition and with Paradigm's products in oncology and NICU neonatal intensive care. Coupled with Alere's market leadership position in cardiac disease, the addition of Matria provides Inverness with health management market leading positions in women's health, oncology and cardiology, three critical areas of strategic focus for Inverness."

Tom Cibotti, Managing Director at Covington Associates, said "The acquisition of Matria Healthcare is an important step in Inverness' strategy to become a leader in health management services. Matria has the industry's most complete range of services within health management and will further complement Inverness' focus on women's health and oncology."

The merger is conditioned upon approval by Matria's shareholders as well as the satisfaction of regulatory and other customary conditions. Approval by the shareholders of Inverness is not required. The transaction is structured as a tax-free reorganization and is expected to close during the second quarter of 2008.

About Inverness
Inverness Medical Innovations is a leading developer of advanced diagnostic devices and is presently exploring new opportunities for its proprietary electrochemical and other techniques in a variety of professional diagnostic and consumer-oriented applications including immuno-diagnostics with a focus on women's health, cardiology and infectious disease. The Company's new product development efforts, as well as its position as a leading supplier of consumer pregnancy and fertility/ovulation tests and rapid point-of care diagnostics, are supported by the strength of its intellectual property portfolio. Inverness is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

To learn more about Inverness Medical Inc., please visit www.invernessmedical.com.

About Covington Associates LLC
Covington Associates is a specialty investment banking firm founded in 1991 serving business service, consumer, industrial, healthcare, and technology companies throughout the country. Focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising, debt and equity restructuring, and strategic advisory assignments for middle market companies, Covington Associates has completed transactions ranging in value from $10 million to over $1 billion for both private and publicly traded companies.

To learn more about Covington Associates, visit www.covingtonassociates.com.



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