ZUG, Switzerland (Dow Jones)--A longterm study looking at Cytori Therapeutics Inc's (CYTX) tissue regeneration method--which uses stem cells from a person's own fat to reconstruct breasts--shows the procedure to be safe when used on former breast cancer patients who suffered from scars or had part of their breast removed, the U.S.-based company said Wednesday.
The findings could help thousands of former breast cancer patients benefit from a minimally invasive method to restore breasts disfigured by surgery.
It could also open a potential multi-billion dollar market for Cytori, which generated sales of about $6 million in the first nine months of 2010 and hopes to broaden the use of its method outside the cosmetics market.
Cytori said the fresh 12-month trial of its Celution System, which included 71 patients, confirmed the findings of an earlier six-month trial which registered high physician and patient satisfaction ratios of around 80%. Cytori said the comprehensive data are being prepared for peer-review and should be publicly available later this year.
"The data is likely to increase physicians' confidence to use our method," Cytori president Marc Hedrick told Dow Jones Newswires at the company's new European headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. The San Diego-based firm also owns offices in Tokyo and Mumbai.
The reluctance of many doctors to apply Cytoris' method in cancer patients is due to its use of stem cells from patients' own fat. It reflected concerns that the use of a patient's own cells could allow the cancer to reappear. The study failed to back these fears, however, and showed that the method is safe.
Cytori's system includes the extraction of stem cells from the fat tissue of a patient, which are then injected in the affected area such as the breast, where tissue needs to be regenerated.
Unlike other stem cell companies such as Stemcells Inc (STEM), Cytori doesn't use embryonic cells, a method which is facing opposition as it is considered unethical. Scientists, however, hope the use of stem cells can help cure complex diseases such as cancer as stem cells have a long life and can develop into other cells.
Increased patient and physician acceptance for Cytori's breast regeneration method could spur sales, Hedrik said, seeing a market potential of about $3 billion in this area. "There are about 450,000 women that are diagnosed each year with breast cancer. Around 70% of those women are eligible for breast conserving surgery," he said.
Many women who suffer from breast cancer need to have parts of their breasts removed to extract the cancer tissue. While this can help women survive the disease, living with a disfigured breast comes with a heavy psychological burden. Today, implants are often the only solution to restore breasts.
Cytori's method, meanwhile, could help many women regain a higher quality of life. The intervention is also relatively simple. The extraction of the stem cells takes only a few minutes and the entire procedure until the cells are injected in the breast takes several hours. After about six weeks, the breast is restored.
- Wall Street Journal
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