A Medical Device Daily

Cytori Therapeutics (San Diego) received Notification of Issuance from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for its core patent covering the Celution System. Patent No. 7,390,484 protects Cytori's key device technology, which processes adult stem and regenerative cells from adipose tissue at the patient's bedside.

The new patent is a central part of Cytori's global patent portfolio, which includes more than 150 pending patent applications and five new previously unannounced international patents. The new patents in Korea and Singapore cover Cytori's Celution devices.

Cytori also was granted patents in Korea and Australia related to its StemSource Cell Bank. In South Africa, Cytori was granted a patent for using adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells in cardiovascular cell therapy.

Celution 800 is being sold into the reconstructive surgery market and the Celution 900 System is being offered around the globe as part of the company's StemSource Cell Bank.

"The '484 patent is the key foundational patent within our intellectual property portfolio and offers Cytori long-term protection through at least 2024," said CEO Christopher Calhoun. "Our patent portfolio works in concert with many other barriers-to-entry to protect all of our target markets for our first-in-class Celution System."

Cytori is focused on providing patients with new options for reconstructive surgery, developing treatments for cardiovascular disease, and banking patients' adult stem and regenerative cells.

In other patent news, Lifeline Biotechnologies (Reno, Nevada) reported that it has begun preparation of a provisional patent on a new neural network diagnostic system after a five-year developmental period. As previously reported, Lifeline has been working with an unnamed Asian university to further develop and enhance the company's First Warning System. This pending patent is the result of that extensive work.

According to Dr. Louis Keith, emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago). "We can now determine which of the benign lesions the First Warning detects has the potential of becoming cancer. Using a combination of five neural network constructions, we have broken this elusive barrier. This new system has the ability to provide us with 100% selectivity, finding all lesions in the breast and with specificity in the low 90s, correctly classifying all tumors. This system will continue to improve in its accuracy because it learns with each new case presented to it."

Holmes added, "After our provisional patent is filed, we will begin a search for a strategic partner."

Lifeline Biotechnologies is focused on completing the development of the First Warning System, which is designed to assist in the early detection of breast cancer.