• HepaLife Technologies (Boston) will present new data from ongoing research and development of its artificial liver device technology at the 6th annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), June 11-14. In tests designed to represent the environment present when treating human liver failure patients, HepaLife's PICM-19 liver cells were exposed to human blood plasma and toxic ammonia. The PICM-19 cell line removed toxic ammonia, produced urea, and expressed CYP-450 enzymes. Intended for the treatment of liver failure, the HepaLife Bioartificial Liver device consists of three basic components: 1) a plasma filter, separating the patient's blood into blood plasma and blood cells; 2) the bioreactor, a unit filled with the PICM-19 liver stem cell line which biologically mimics the liver's function; and 3), the HepaDrive, a perfusion system for pumping the patient's plasma through the bioreactor while controlling gas supply and temperature for best possible performance of the cells. HepaLife makes cell-based medical technologies.

• Sirtex (Wilmington, Massachusetts) has received FDA approval under an Investigational Device Exemption to conduct the first clinical trial to evaluate the safety of concurrent administration of FOLFOX6 and bevacizumab, an anti-angiogenic, with selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) using SIR-Spheres microspheres as first-line treatment of patients with colorectal cancer that has metastasized to the liver. SIRT is a treatment for inoperable liver cancer that delivers high doses of radiation directly to the site of tumors. In a minimally invasive treatment, millions of radioactive SIR-Spheres microspheres are infused via a catheter into the liver where they selectively target liver tumors with a dose of internal radiation up to 40 times higher than conventional radiotherapy, while sparing healthy tissue. Sirtex makes cancer therapies.