Two lung transplantations performed in Manchester using new technology

Two lung transplantations performed in Manchester using new technology

The University Hospital of Manchester, England, is now the first clinic outside
Sweden to have used the STEEN Solution™ method clinically. Two double lung
transplantations have been performed with positive results. “It is exciting to
note that Steen Solution™ and lung evaluation outside the body are beginning to
become clinical practice in a leading country such as the UK, and that more
people with lung disease thereby receive effective treatment,” says Magnus
Nilsson, CEO of Vitrolife.

At the beginning of September Vitrolife announced that a lung transplantation
had been performed for the first time using the STEEN Solution™ technology
outside Sweden. Earlier on in the development and the first clinical use eight
transplantations have been carried out using STEEN Solution™ at the University
Hospital of Lund, where the technology was developed under the leadership of
Professor Stig Steen.

The University Hospital of Manchester that performed the transplantation has now
performed one further transplantation. According to Nizar Yonan, the hospital's
Transplant Director, both the transplantations were successful. Nizar Yonan says
to the BBC that the method means that “we can have a better idea of those lungs
and their function”. Due to the STEEN Solution™ method, which offers an
opportunity to test the lung's function ouside the body, lungs could be used
which would have been out of the question without the aid of the technology.
Kenneth Collins, who has suffered from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease), is the first patient in the UK and is grateful to have got his life
back. He says to the BBC that after the operation he feels “at least ten to
fifteen years younger”.

With the STEEN Solution™ method, the number of potential organs that can be
transplanted increases considerably. In the USA, for example, less than 20
percent of the lungs donated are transplanted today, due to uncertainty about
the function of the organ. In time the STEEN Solution™ method can lead to a
fivefold to tenfold increase in the number of lung transplantations carried out,
as the need for donated organs using today's methods considerably exceeds
supply. 

STEEN Solution™ is approved for sales in Europe, that is it is CE marked. At
present a clinical study is ongoing in Canada using STEEN Solution™, which will
form the basis of an application for sales approval in the USA and Canada.


December 15, 2008
Gothenburg, Sweden 

Magnus Nilsson
CEO


Queries should be addressed to: 
Magnus Nilsson, CEO, phone +46 31 721 80 00 or +46 708 22 80 61.
Anna Ahlberg, CFO, phone +46 31 721 80 13 or +46 708 22 80 13.


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Vitrolife is a global biotechnology/medical device Group that works with
developing, manufacturing and selling advanced products and systems for the
preparation, cultivation and storage of human cells, tissue and organs. The
company has business activities within three product areas: Fertility,
Transplantation and Stem Cell Cultivation. The Fertility product area works with
nutrient solutions (media) and advanced consumable instruments such as needles
and pipettes, for the treatment of human infertility. The Transplantation
product area works with solutions and systems to maintain tissue in optimal
condition outside the body for the required time while waiting for
transplantation. The Stem Cell Cultivation product area works with media and
instruments to enable the use and handling of stem cells for therapeutic
purposes. 
     Vitrolife today has approximately 140 employees and the company's products
are sold in more than 80 markets. The head office is in Gothenburg, Sweden, and
there are subsidiaries in USA, Australia and Italy. The Vitrolife share is
listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm's Nordic Small Cap list.
________________________________________________________________________________
_________
Vitrolife AB (publ), Box 9080, SE-400 92 Göteborg, Sweden. Corporate identity
number 556354-3452.
Tel: +46 31 721 80 00. Fax: +46 31 721 80 90. E-mail: info@vitrolife.com.
Homepage: www.vitrolife.com.

This is a translation of the Swedish version of the press release. When in
doubt, the Swedish wording prevails.