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Biotech / Medical : INCR -- Incara Pharmaceuticals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (162)	3/22/2002 7:58:48 PM
From: mopgcw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 196

Human Hepatic Stem Cells Disclosed at Keystone Symposium; Incara Holds License to Discovery with Promise of Treating Liver Disease RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Human hepatic (liver) stem cells -- unique cells capable of multiplying and giving rise to mature liver cells -- have been described in a poster presented at the Keystone Symposium on Stem Cells: Origins, Fates and Functions in Keystone, Colorado. The authors of the poster are Dr. Nicholas G. Moss, Eliane Wauthier and Dr. Lola M. Reid of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Incara Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nasdaq: INCR - news) is supporting the research and has a license to its results. Incara is applying discoveries in the field of liver biology to the development of cell therapies for liver diseases. The poster describes the identification, expansion and antigenic characterization of human hepatoblasts, hepatic stem cells that are highly proliferative cells that are the immediate progenitors for hepatocytes and bile duct cells, the major cellular components of the liver. The research also identified more primitive stem cells that are precursors to hepatoblasts and represent an even earlier stage in liver development. In addition, the authors provide details of expansion conditions for the two types of liver stem cells, enabling large numbers of them to be generated in culture. ``This research extends our earlier discoveries in rats and the discoveries of others in mice and establishes the existence of the liver stem cell in humans,'' said Dr. Reid, Professor, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, and of the Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ``In addition, this is the first report in any species of a more primitive stem cell in the development of the liver.'' ``We congratulate Drs. Moss and Reid on this advancement in the field of human liver biology,'' said Clayton I. Duncan, Chief Executive Officer of Incara. ``We believe our program for transplantation of liver cells might provide a life-saving treatment for patients with liver failure. Currently, many patients have limited alternatives.'' Incara is investigating the transplantation of human liver cells as a treatment for liver failure. The company is currently preparing an IND to be filed with the FDA to begin initial Phase 1 clinical trials for treatment of adults with end-stage liver diseases. Later clinical trials are expected to include children with life-threatening genetic diseases. This year approximately 30,000 people in the United States will die from chronic liver disease. Although decades of research have led to a better understanding of diseases that affect the liver, the only cure for many of these diseases is a liver transplant. There are only about 5,000 transplantable donor livers available in the United States each year while there are 18,000 patients currently on waiting lists for a liver transplant. The incidence of chronic liver failure is expected to increase over the next ten years as a result of the ``silent epidemic'' of hepatitis C. The NIH estimates that up to four million people in the U.S. have been infected with this virus and researchers project that over the next 10 years, approximately 15% of these people will develop cirrhosis. Incara believes that cell therapy offers promise to patients afflicted with devastating liver diseases. Incara Pharmaceuticals Corporation (www.incara.com) is focused on disease therapies based on tissue protection, repair and regeneration. In particular, the company is developing cell therapy for treatment of liver failure. Incara is also developing a series of catalytic antioxidants as treatments for protection of cells from damage occurring in stroke and cancer radiation therapy, and for protection of cells from transplant rejection. In addition, Incara is conducting a Phase 2/3 multicenter clinical trial for deligoparin, an ultra-low molecular weight heparin being developed with Elan Corporation for treatment of ulcerative colitis.