• Harvest Technologies Corp., of Plymouth, Mass., reported positive interim results from the first 30 patients in the clinical trial of patients with nonreconstructable critical limb ischemia due to advanced thromboangitis obliterans, commonly known as Buerger's disease. The study tests Harvest's SmartPReP System, a point-of-care device for concentrating a patient's own (autologous) bone marrow stem cells in approximately 15 minutes. The interim evaluation conducted at 12 weeks showed convincing evidence that the treatment had significant clinical effect, Harvest said. The most important finding was that 87.5 percent of patients were able to save their legs. Quality of Life assessment (Rand-36 questionnaire) and individual perception of pain showed statistically significant improvement (p = 0.0009 and 0.0001, respectively).

• Interleukin Genetics Inc., of Waltham, Mass., presented data from a study of more than 1,200 Korean and Japanese women showing that the risk of osteoporosis-related vertebral fractures increased 70 percent for Korean women with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the IL-10 gene and 50 percent for those with a SNP in the IL1-RN gene.

• Pharmaxis Ltd., of Sydney, Australia, completed patient treatment in its first Phase III trial of Bronchitol, a drug designed to hydrate the lungs and promote normal mucus clearance in patients with cystic fibrosis. Data are expected later this month and will support the drug's approval in Europe. A second Phase III trial is ongoing in the U.S.