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AmCyte Announces First North American Encapsulated Islet Transplant without Long-Term Immune Suppression into a Patient with Type 1 Diabetes

Press Release

LOS ANGELES, March 9, 2005--AmCyte Inc., a leader in encapsulated islet replacement and pancreatic adult stem cells, announced today the transplantation of the first Type 1 diabetic patient in North America to receive islets without long-term immune suppression.

The transplant took place on February 22nd at Toronto General Hospital. The patient experienced no complications during the minor 20-minute surgical infusion. The patient was released from the hospital three days after the procedure and is resting at home.

The transplanted islets are protected from rejection by the patient's immune system with AmCyte's novel microencapsulation technology. About the size of a pinhead, each clear gel bead contains multiple islets, and floats freely in the patient's abdominal cavity. The capsules are permeable so that nutrients and glucose can get to the islets, and secreted insulin from the islets can get out into the blood.

"At this point we are very happy that the patient is doing well," said Oliver Foellmer, AmCyte's Director of Business Development. "The clinical trial represents a new generation of islet transplantation technology and is part of a multi-prong clinical trial strategy to bring a treatment for diabetes to the market."

"We are excited to contribute this important step towards a treatment for diabetes without the health risks of immune suppression," said Dr. Wen G. Tsang, Sr. VP R&D. "In conjunction with our Adult Stem Cell Regenerated Islet Program, we look forward to being able to address both the limitations of immune suppression and islet supply."

I do not trust Amcycte. Their forerunner were involved with Mylan Labs years ago. The forerunner was the first to transplant cells in a human using Vivorx encapsulation. Steven Craig was the man's name. He committed suicide and Mylan eventually sued Vivorx. I simply do not trust them.

Sounds exciting. My son was diagnosed about a month ago, and we're still getting settled into this whole thing. It sounds like a lot of stuff is changing pretty fast -- I'm willing to wait and see for a while, to see what shakes out....