Cytori Therapeutics - On Path To Regeneration?

10/16/2009 5:52 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Regenerative medicine - a new catch word in health care, is an emerging field that involves engineering of living cells, tissues and organs to repair or restore lost or damaged tissue function due to the effects of injury, disease, and aging. Though still in infancy, it is one of the hottest areas of research in contemporary science.

Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (CYTX: News ) is a company that is focused on developing medical technologies, which harness the potential of adult stem and regenerative cells from adipose tissues.

The company's lead product is a system known as Celution, which helps to extract stem cells from the fat (adipose tissue) withdrawn from a patient in a simple liposuction procedure. Since adipose tissue contains abundant stem cells, there is no need for cell culture. The stem cells extracted can then be administered to the same patient where tissue repair or regeneration is needed. According to Cytori, since the patients' own stem cells are utilized, the need to use embryonic stem cells or cells from donors doesn't arise.

According to Cytori, its other pipeline products include PureGraft, which allows the operator to prepare a fat graft in about 20 minutes; Harvest Instrument Set - a collection of instruments necessary for tissue collection that has been optimized for use with Cytori's tissue processing technology; and Delivery Instrument Set.

The Celution family of products include Celution 800/CRS, Celution 900/MB and Celution 700 System.

Celution 800/CRS System was introduced during 2008 into the European cosmetic and reconstructive surgery market through a network of medical distributors. The company expects to begin commercializing the Celution 800/CRS System for use for breast reconstruction for partial mastectomy defects as early as 2010 pending supporting clinical data and expanded CE certification. A 70-patient, multi-center study dubbed RESTORE II, was initiated in Europe in 2008 and interim results from the trial are expected in December.

A five-patient pilot study in Japan, the results of which were reported Thursday, has found that use of stem and regenerative cells from a patient's own fat tissue to treat stress urinary incontinence is safe and feasible. The cells in the study were processed using Cytori's Celution 800 System during the operative procedure. Stress urinary incontinence, or SUI, results in the loss of one's ability to control urinary flow. About 16 million patients are diagnosed with SUI each year in the U.S. alone.