Cytori Receives US Patent Allowance for Protecting Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery Product Line

SAN DIEGO - Cytori Therapeutics announced in a Wednesday press release that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and 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 will specifically protect Cytori's Celution System-based devices and methods essential in novel cosmetic and reconstructive surgery procedures. This is an important development to Cytori because it creates a stronger barrier-to-entry against potentially competitive methods specifically within the cosmetic and reconstructive surgery market and protects in the US, a product currently on sale in many countries around the world.

The methods and devices covered by this patent may be useful to protect products treating a variety of clinical applications beyond breast reconstruction such as the general repair of soft tissue defects, breast augmentation, facial reconstruction and augmentation, vocal cord repair, soft tissue defects secondary to radiation therapy as well certain urologic and gastrointestinal conditions. In these applications, the Celution System is used to mix a patient's own adipose derived stem and regenerative cells with their own unprocessed adipose tissue to generate a cell enhanced graft that performs significantly better than grafts alone.

In a recent investigator initiated clinical study in Japan for breast reconstruction in women with breast cancer, cell enhanced grafts generated using Cytori's Celution System were found to be both safe and effective. Cell enhanced grafts are also currently being used in a Cytori sponsored post marketing study in Europe designated as RESTORE II. The RESTORE II study is a breast reconstruction study in breast cancer patients who have undergone partial mastectomy.

More than one million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer annually.A growing percentage of these women are eligible for partial versus full mastectomies. However, partial mastectomy often results in irregular tissue loss in the breast for which these women have few, if any, reconstructive options. One of Cytori's corporate goals is the development of specific products for breast reconstruction in these patients.

Cytori's 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.