Medgenics, Inc. Announces Patient Nearing Unprecedented 11 Months of Anemia Relief in Clinical Trial From Single Treatment of...
27 August 2009 - 9:17PM
Business Wire
Medgenics (AIM:MEDG) (AIM:MEDU) is pleased to announce that one
of the patients, who was treated with the Company’s EPODURE tissue
Biopumps almost 11 months ago, continues to be effectively treated
for anemia without a single erythropoietin (EPO) injection. This
patient (#2) was dependent on frequent injections of the
therapeutic protein (EPO) for the 18 months prior to receiving a
single administration of 3 tiny EPODURE tissue Biopumps in the
Company’s phase I/II anemia trial in Israel. He has now gone a full
year since his last EPO injection, while his hemoglobin level has
been continuously maintained within the target range of 10-12 g/dl
for this period. By contrast, conventional anemia treatment by EPO
injections must be repeated up to 3 times every week to provide
sustained treatment. To the best of the Directors’ knowledge,
nothing approaching EPODURE’s length of sustained anemia relief in
patients has been shown from a single treatment of any other
kind.
The patient (#2), stated:
“For me the treatment has been and continues to be successful,
without complications or discomfort. At 72 years old, I continue to
do physical work in the citrus groves several hours a day, but
unlike in the previous year, I have not needed injections. The
treatment has improved my quality of life.”
Medgenics’ unique tissue-based EPODURE Biopump platform
technology is proving to be effective in maintaining hemoglobin
levels within the target range for many months in most of the
patients treated so far, even at lowest dose of treatment,
according to internationally renowned nephrologist, Dr. Anatole
Besarab, who is a member of Medgenics’ Scientific Advisory Board.
The Company plans to present the study findings at the upcoming
American Society of Nephrology meeting in October.
Dr. Besarab has said:
"With a patient now nearing 12 months without EPO injections and
others for more than 6 months, it is becoming clearer that the
EPODURE Biopump is able to produce sufficient erythropoietin to
effectively elevate and then sustain hemoglobin levels in patients
with sufficient administered dose. I am not aware of any other
technology that can achieve such prolonged and sustained therapy
from a single treatment. Additional studies are needed in a broader
range of patients, and we look forward to them to further confirm
these very positive results.”
Medgenics has also recently moved significantly ahead in
discussions with major pharmaceutical companies and with
institutional investment funds.
Advanced discussions are now underway towards potential
partnership in the coming months to co-develop a Biopump producing
Factor VIII protein for the treatment of hemophilia, a market
greater than $3.5b/year (La Marie 2007). In addition, the Company
has recently entered advanced discussions with institutional
investors interested in multimillion dollar investment in Medgenics
in the coming months. Medgenics is also in active due diligence
with an Asian biopharma company that has conveyed its written
interest in a combined investment in the Company and licensing
agreement for collaboration in certain Biopump applications in
selected Asian markets to be agreed. The Board is also pleased by
recent serious interest by companies in other new applications of
the Biopump platform, and believes that such interest demonstrates
the attractiveness of the Biopump platform for strategic
partners.
The Directors believe that these discussions could lead to
concrete steps in the coming months.
In addition to the closing and commitment of additional funds
announced last week, which brought the total to $520,000, Medgenics
notes that it was awarded a government grant in Q2/09 of $1.3
million from the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) at the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor of Israel. These funds will
be received as government participation in approved R & D
expenses incurred during the period April 2009 to March 2010. The
OCS awards grants to industry in Israel to advance technological
innovations. This is the fourth consecutive year that Medgenics has
received this respected grant.
Dr. Andrew Pearlman, CEO of Medgenics said:
"We are excited that we have a patient who is now reaching a
full year of effective anemia treatment without any EPO injections
and with only a single treatment of EPODURE. In this period a
typical patient in the U.S. being treated per the FDA guidelines
for EPO administration would receive up to 150 injections. Month by
month we have drawn growing encouragement from the continuing
positive results of the Biopump anemia study. We are pleased by the
significant progress with potential partners and institutional
investors which gives us great hope that this will yield concrete
results in the coming months. Meanwhile, the Company continues its
focused efforts to raise several million US$ in the coming months
to enable it to continue and expand the clinical trial and our
other operations and to realize the potential of the great
opportunities it now has."
The Company would also like to clarify that, further to the
announcement made on 20 August 2009, included within the
$55,000 debenture investment by “shareholders who
are physicians with expertise in the clinical field
addressed by Medgenics' lead product, EPODURE” was an
investment of US $5,000 from Stephen McMurray, a director of the
Company.
Medgenics(Regs) (LSE:MEDG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Medgenics(Regs) (LSE:MEDG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024