CellPro Inc. announced Tuesday that it has completed patientenrollment in the Phase III licensing trial of its Ceprate SC stemcell concentration system in autologous bone marrowtransplantation to treat patients with breast cancer.

The multicenter Phase III trial, which enrolled a total of 94patients since its inception in June 1992, was designed todetermine whether stem cells purified from bone marrow withCellPro's system engraft as well as whole bone marrow, andwhether they show a reduction in infusional toxicity.

Half the patients enrolled in the trial underwent a standardbone marrow transplantation procedure, and the other halfwere transplanted with bone marrow stem cells that had beenpurified via Ceprate.

The cell separation technology developed by the Seattlecompany (NASDAQ:CPRO) is also being evaluated in trials foruse in allogeneic (donor) bone marrow transplantation, as anadjunct to high dose chemotherapy and for purifying stem cellsfrom the peripheral blood as a non-invasive alternative to bonemarrow transplantation in treating cancers. Ceprate is alsobeing used in several gene therapy trials for treating cancersand genetic disorders.

-- Jennifer Van Brunt Senior Editor

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