SUNRISE, Fla., Jan. 14, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT) announced today it has received a purchase order for a TGI 1200 System from Philadelphia BioMed Product Development Centre.*
Bioheart's TGI 1200 System is a fully-automated, point-of-care system that recovers potentially regenerative cells from a patient's own fat in about an hour, with minimal operator intervention. No tissue pre-processing is required. The system, distributed by Bioheart under an exclusive license from Tissue Genesis, Inc., accepts adipose (fat) tissue from the same device used for liposuctioning the tissue from the patient. The compact desktop unit readily fits into any clinical environment and uses preconfigured disposables for quick and easy assembly.
The unit will be kept by Philadelphia BioMed at the University of Jordan's Cell Therapy Centre, under the direction and supervision of Dr. Abdallah Al-Abbadi, MD, who is Professor of Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine, for use by vascular surgeons in chronic limb ischemia patients to improve blood circulation of the limbs and prevent leg amputation. Peripheral vascular disease commonly affects the arteries supplying the leg and is mostly caused by atherosclerosis. Further reduction in blood flow causes ischemic pain at rest, which affects the foot leading to ulceration and gangrene.
Adipose tissue will be collected from the patient's abdomen and processed in the TGI 1200 System to collect the adipose stem cells (ASCs). It is believed that the use of ASCs for treatment of chronic limb ischemia will arrest and possibly reverse the effects of chronic limb ischemia.
Bioheart met last month to discuss this project with the research teams at the University of Jordan, including Dr. Abdelkareem Al-Qudah, the Vice President for Research and Development at the University of Jordan.
"The University of Jordan is extremely excited to be a part of this cutting-edge technology and welcomes advanced clinical studies," said Dr. Moaath Mousa Al-Samady, MD, a vascular surgeon who will be utilizing the cells for treating his patients. "We and the cardiovascular surgeons believe that this will bring new hope to many patients suffering from chronic limb ischemia as well as diseases related to cardiac dysfunction."
Bioheart recently completed another pre-clinical study in collaboration with the University of Jordan under the leadership of Mahmoud Abu-Abeeleh, MD, assistant professor of Cardiac Surgery, University of Jordan School of Medicine, utilizing human ASCs to treat myocardial infarction in rats in which up to 90 percent reduction in myocardial scar size was observed. Bioheart is expecting to commence human studies for acute myocardial infarction in the near future.
*An entity affiliated with a member of Bioheart's Board of Directors
About Bioheart, Inc.:
Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT) is committed to delivering intelligent devices and biologics that help monitor, diagnose and treat heart failure and cardiovascular diseases. Its goals are to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations. Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage. Its lead product candidate, MyoCell(r), is an innovative clinical muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. The Company's pipeline includes multiple product candidates for the treatment of heart damage, including Bioheart Acute Cell Therapy, an autologous, adipose tissue-derived stem cell treatment for acute heart damage, and MyoCell(r) SDF-1, a therapy utilizing autologous cells that are genetically modified to express additional potentially therapeutic growth proteins. For more information on Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com.
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