Cytori achieved progress across multiple areas of its business during and subsequent to the end of the second quarter, which will support its near-term commercialization activities and product development pipeline.
Intellectual property: Cytori was issued a key patent in June 2008, which Cytori believes provides market protection for commercialization of the Celution System in the United States. The newly issued patent specifically protects Cytori's device technology that processes adipose tissue to obtain a diverse and mixed population of cells. The Company’s intellectual property position was bolstered by its receipt of a Notice of Allowance in July 2008 from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for a patent application that covers methods of creating a cell-enhanced graft using a closed system to process adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells. This patent is expected to specifically protect Cytori's Celution System-based devices and methods essential in novel cosmetic and reconstructive surgery procedures.
Product Pipeline: Cytori continued to enroll patients in the Company’s chronic heart disease and heart attack clinical trials in Europe. To accelerate enrollment, the Company is working to open additional trial centers. In addition, Cytori formed a collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology to develop adipose-derived stem and regenerative cell-based treatments for ischemic stroke. The Fraunhofer Society is expected to commit $425,000 over two years in support of Cytori's already planned research and development. The goal of the collaboration is to advance adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells into clinical trials for ischemic stroke.
Management Discussion
Cytori's management will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time today to discuss these results. The audio webcast of the conference call may be accessed under "Events & Webcasts" in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.cytoritx.com. The webcast will be available live and by replay two hours after the call on the company's website and archived for 90 days. A telephone replay will be available for one week. To access the replay, please call +1 (303) 590-3000 (PIN: 11116771#).
About Cytori
Cytori’s (NASDAQ: CYTX) goal is to be the global leader in regenerative medicine. The company is dedicated to providing patients with new options for reconstructive surgery, developing treatments for cardiovascular disease, and banking patients' adult stem and regenerative cells. The Celution® 800 System is being introduced in Europe and Asia Pacific into the reconstructive surgery market while the Celution® 900 System is being commercialized globally for cryopreserving a patient's own stem and regenerative cells. Clinical trials are ongoing in cardiovascular disease and planned for spinal disc degeneration, gastrointestinal disorders, and other unmet medical needs. www.cytoritx.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding events, trends and business prospects, which may affect our future operating results and financial position. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results and financial position to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, statements regarding (a) securing sufficient operating capital, (b) the need for further financing, (c) our history of operating losses, (d) our anticipated revenue growth from StemSource Cell Bank orders, (e) our revenue guidance for 2008, (f) protection of our intellectual property rights, (g) our collaboration with the Fraunhofer Society and the related clinical trials, and other risks and uncertainties described under the "Risk Factors" in Cytori’s Securities and Exchange Commission Filings. We assume no responsibility to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events, trends or circumstances after the date they are made.