HYPERBARIC SYSTEMS - Commences Donor Organ Research Program
siliconinvestor.com
New York, New York, Jan 11, 2002 (Market News Publishing via COMTEX) -- HyperBaric Systems (HBS) has reached an agreement with Borgess Research Institute of Kalamazoo Michigan to commence in-depth studies on extending the shelf life of donor organs utilizing technologies HBS has already developed for blood platelets.
Today's announcement by Harry Masuda, HBS President and CEO, follows a recent news release regarding dramatic improvements with the company's solutions and methodologies toward safely storing blood platelets for periods twice as long as current standards allow.
HBS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Luis Toledo, an internationally renowned organ transplant surgeon and researcher, will conduct the studies. He is noted for his pioneering achievements in the field of organ preservation technology.
Dr. Toledo has also frequently contributed articles to leading scientific publications covering the subject of donor organ transplantation.
"By transferring much of the technology advancements we have made with platelet preservation, I can optimistically move forward with organ studies I started more than 20 years ago," Dr. Toledo said.
"HBS is in the enviable position to advance the art of biological preservation in both the blood platelet and donor organ realms with a quantum leap forward."
Currently, donor organs, including the pancreas, kidneys, hearts, lungs and livers can be preserved for extremely short periods of time, ranging from two to 36 hours. It is generally conceded that this very limited window is restrictive in attaining the best possible matches of donor and recipient.
"It is our theory and belief that the short period of time allowed for organ transplantation could be the cause of several major problems," Dr. Toledo said. "The first problem is the limited opportunity you have to optimally match donor and recipient. This may cause rejection problems, which ultimately leads to enormous annual costs for anti-rejection drugs. As much as $150,000 per year."
"Less than acceptable matches, sometimes necessary to save lives, can also create a remaining lifetime of poor health and an unhappy lifestyle," Dr. Toledo added.
"We strongly believe that our current technology based on a well defined proprietary liquid gel solution and process, will provide the industry and patients with several very beneficial results," he said. "It is our theory that if the donor organ can be safely preserved, using our technology, for extended periods of time it will modify or neutralize the immune response of the organ which in turn will require less immunosupppresion. This will then make the organ much more acceptable and receptive to the recipient."
"Concurrently, the potential annual savings on anti-rejection drugs could be extremely large and meaningful. In addition, because of the extended shelf life, we will have the time to more optimally match donor and recipient, which would greatly enhance the quality of life for the patient," Dr. Toledo said.
"Both blood platelets and donor organ preservation methods have lagged far behind the rapidly expanding breakthroughs in other areas of medicine," Harry Masuda said. " The basic process of preserving platelets and organs has not changed for many decades. We are still in the Stone Age compared to advances in other industries. With our new technologies we believe we can bring these areas into the twenty first century and save millions of lives and millions of dollars."
It is estimated by industry officials that the market potential in all fields of blood platelets and donor organs, exceeds 200 billion dollars annually.
HyperBaric Systems is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with additional offices in the greater San Francisco Bay area and Rancho Mirage, California and Michigan. The Company also has research and testing facilities in Russia.
Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in filings made by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
