Good News for BioLife

Cytori (NASDAQ: CYTX) received US Patent No. 7,901,672 ('the 672 patent) today from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a method of enriching a patient's own fat with their own adipose derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) to create a cell-enriched fat graft. This patented method is the essence of the company's innovative procedure for treating a variety of cosmetic and reconstructive soft tissue defects and is being used in Europe and Asia as a natural filler for breast reconstruction after partial mastectomy (such as in Cytori's RESTORE 2 trial), breast augmentation, facial rejuvenation, wrinkle filling, as well as other soft tissue defects such as those secondary to radiation therapy.

The '672 patent is not limited to any particular way of obtaining the stem and regenerative cells or any particular way of enriching the fat with the cells. Accordingly, the '672 patent covers both manual and automated methods of making cell enriched fat grafts. For example, the patented method covers cells disaggregated from the fat tissue by enzymatic digestion or mechanical force and cells concentrated by density, filtration or centrifugation. The cell-enriched fat graft may be prepared manually or in a device that operates in a closed system such as Cytori's Celution® 800/CRS System.

The '672 patent is broader than US Patent No. 7,887,795, issued on February 15th, 2011, covering a method of making a fat graft enriched with ADRCs plus an additive. Additives may include materials that enhance the delivery, efficacy, tolerability or function of the cell-enriched fat graft, e.g., antibiotics, growth factors, immunosuppressive agents and resorbable scaffolds.

The '672 patent is a significant addition to our multi-layered intellectual property strategy aimed at protecting the devices, methods and uses surrounding adipose derived stem and regenerative cells. In September 2009, Cytori received US Patent No. 7,429,488 covering the Company's Celution® 800/CRS based methods of cell enriched fat grafting.

In January 2010, the Company received US Patent No. 7,651,684 covering methods of making cell enriched fat grafts to treat soft tissue defects, promote neovascularization, or reduce necrosis in the breast, lips, wrinkles, undereyes, cheeks, thighs, arms, abdomen, urethral sphincter, rectal sphincter and other areas of the body using the Company's current Celution® 800/CRS system. The '684 patent also covers methods using alternative device configurations such as desktop versions with accelerated processing times tailored to smaller volume procedures. Cytori now has 31 issued patents worldwide and over a 100 pending patent applications.

Press Release Source: Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. On Tuesday March 8, 2011, 8:30 am EST. SAN DIEGO, CA (Marketwire - 03/08/11) 

Cedar's Needles Fight MRSA

Columbia, Mo. — A University of Missouri forestry professor has found that a species of cedar tree carries an antibiotic that appears to be effective against the bacterial infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Sify.com reports.

Chung-Ho Lin, Ph.D., a research assistant professor at the university’s Center for Agroforestry, and colleagues were researching possible uses for tree species that are considered a nuisance. They identified, isolated and tested 17 bioactive compounds.

Among these was a chemical compound found in the needles of the eastern red cedar. After a series of tests, the researchers discovered that a small amount of the compound — 5 micrograms per milliliter — was effective against several versions of MRSA.

The team also discovered that in addition to the MRSA-fighting compound, the eastern red cedar carries chemical compounds that can kill skin cancer cells in mice.
The team’s research was presented at the recent International Conference on Gram-Positive Pathogens in Omaha, Neb.

By: Bill Gillette
Dermatology Times E-News

Higher Vitamin D Cuts Cancer Risk

San Diego — New research suggests that a significantly higher vitamin D intake than previously thought is required to reach blood levels that can prevent or lower the incidence of breast cancer and other major diseases, Newswise.com reports.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb., found that daily vitamin D intakes of 4,000 IU to 8,000 IU are required to maintain the blood levels of vitamin D metabolites needed to reduce by about half the risk of breast and colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

The study notes that these daily intake levels are higher than traditional recommendations, but are within the range declared safe in a December 2010 National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report. The recommended minimum daily intake is 600 IUs.

The study reports on a survey of several thousand volunteers who took daily vitamin D supplement dosages ranging from 1,000 IU to 10,000 IU. Blood studies were conducted to determine the level of 25-vitamin D.
Newswise.com quotes Cedric Garland, Dr.P.H., professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, as saying, “Most scientists who are actively working with vitamin D now believe that 40 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL is the appropriate target concentration of 25-vitamin D in the blood for preventing the major vitamin D deficiency-related diseases, and have joined in a letter on this topic.

“Unfortunately, according to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 10 percent of the U.S. population has levels in this range, mainly people who work outdoors.

“Now that the results of this study are in, it will become common for almost every adult to take 4,000 IU a day. This is comfortably under the 10,000 IU a day that the IOM Committee Report considers as the lower limit of risk, and the benefits are substantial.”

The findings were published Feb. 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.

By: Bill Gillette
Dermatology Times E-News

Facial Analysis

Question: I hear a lot about the importance of facial analysis. What is analyzed and why is it important?

We now know that multiple tissues of the face are involved in aging, including bone, fat, muscle, and skin. We also know that these tissues seem to age independently and each influences the aging of proximal tissues. Although the sequence of age-related changes is predictable, the pace of those changes varies. It is crucial to bear this in mind when developing a facial rejuvenation plan for a patient.

For example, the most commonly treated area when a patient walks into a cosmetic clinic is the nasolabial fold; however, in a lot of 50-year-old women who are going through perimenopausal bone loss, the lower third of the face looks 5-10 years older than the mid face or the upper face. So if you make the mid face look even younger by filling the nasolabial fold, you have taken the face out of perspective. I think that this practice creates a face that isn't harmonious, that doesn't seem to go together, and the final effect is that the patient looks "filled" or "done."

Facial analysis is a process. It is a read, not a recipe. It isn't a checklist that the physician goes through, looking for glabellar lines, tear troughs, nasolabial folds, and marionette lines, and then fixing what needs to be fixed. We know that some changes that physicians note clinically and that patients say bother them are the end stage of a longstanding, underlying global process. We are constantly gaining new insights into what changes and where it changes as the face ages. This knowledge allows us to address the underlying process and achieve much more natural-looking results.

In conclusion, facial analysis is important because it allows us to focus our attention on rejuvenating the particular facial tissue and the particular region that seem to be aging the face we are treating, thus creating harmonious results.

-Rebecca Fitzgerald, MD  (Clinical Instructor; UCLA - Los Angeles, CA)

A Medscape Article on the Importance of Facial Analysis:

First Doctor in NV - PureGraft

Dr. Zimmerman is the first doctor in the state of Nevada to complete a PureGraft Fat Transfer! PureGraft is redesigning natural beauty!

The PureGraft(TM) System sets a new standard for fat graft processing with its membrane-based tissue filtration combined with speed, simplicity, safety and precision. The PureGraft(TM) technology takes only 15 minutes to purify a fat graft ranging from 50 to 250 mL, removing excess and unwanted fluid, lipid, blood cells and debris in a controllable manner. The consumable-based system, used within the sterile field, "dialyzes" off everything but the purified fat tissue without centrifugation or other methods. The ease of use and simplicity of this innovative system sets it apart from other traditional fat grafting methods. - Press Release (PureGraft)

How it is done: Fat is collected from a variety of methods- from abundant areas or as part of the Lipo-Sculpting process. The fat is then processed with PureGraft to purify and remove contaminants. Then, micro droplet grafting is delivered to every layer, from many vectors to enable reperfusion and hardiness. Unused fat and stem cells can be preserved for future aesthetic and medical needs!

Cytori Therapeutics Featured in The Wall Street Journal: Use Stem Cells to Reconstruct Breasts

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

If you missed the Patient Education last night with Dr. Z...

For anyone who missed the patient education evening with Dr. Zimmerman last night on the topic of liposuction and fat transfer (Pure Graft), here is short summary on how the process works. Keep current and keep checking back as we will be sharing before and after photographs of actual patients and their amazing results with PureGraft!