New study shows improved survival with Perfadex

A recently published study in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation shows that the patients who are most seriously ill before lung tranplantation have better one-year survival when Perfadex is used as the preservation solution for donor lungs compared with UW solution. Furthermore, the patients who received lungs preserved in Perfadex ran a significantly lower risk of being affected by rejection reactions requiring treatment.

Researchers at the John Hopkins institute in Baltimore, USA, have compiled data from the national database UNOS, where they have studied clinical results after 4,455 transplantations between the years 2005 and 2008. 93 percent of the patients had received lungs preserved in Perfadex, the remainder had received lungs preserved in UW.

When the entire material was analyzed, no significantly improved one-year survival could be seen using Perfadex, but when the researchers looked specifically at that half of the patient population that was most seriously ill before the transplantation and thus ran a greater risk of dying within a year, there was a significant difference. In the Perfadex group 81.5 percent survived, compared to 73.5 percent in the UW group. The research team could also see that there was a greater risk of being affected by rejection reactions requiring treatment in the UW group.

“It is very exciting to see confirmed in studies what we have heard from clinics, that for the patients Perfadex is the best thing that can be used for organ preservation before lung transplantations. This is of course why Vitrolife’s preparation is nowadays used in almost all lung transplantations all over the world. This position that the company has in the market is very beneficial for the launch of Vitrolife’s pioneering Steen Solution® product, which can increase the number of organs that can be used for transplantation,” says Dr. Magnus Nilsson, Vitrolife’s CEO.

August 30, 2010

Gothenburg

Magnus Nilsson
CEO

Queries should be addressed to:

Magnus Nilsson, CEO, phone +46 31 721 80 61
Anne-Lie Sveder, CFO, phone +46 31 721 80 13

Vitrolife is a global biotechnology/medical device Group that works with developing, manufacturing and selling advanced products and systems for the preparation, cultivation and storage of human cells, tissue and organs.  The company has business activities within three product areas: Fertility, Transplantation and Stem Cell Cultivation. The Fertility product area works with nutrient solutions (media), cryopreservation products and advanced consumable instruments such as needles and pipettes, for the treatment of human infertility. The Transplantation product area works with solutions and systems to evaluate and maintain organs outside the body in order to select usable organs and keep them in optimal condition while waiting for transplantation. The Stem Cell Cultivation product area works with media and instruments to enable the use and handling of stem cells for therapeutic purposes.

Vitrolife today has approximately 180 employees and its products are sold in more than 85 markets. The company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and there are subsidiaries in USA, Australia, France, Italy, United Kingdom and Japan. Production facilities are located in Sweden and the USA. The Vitrolife share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, Small Cap.

Vitrolife AB (publ), Box 9080, SE-400 92 Göteborg, Sweden. Corporate identity number 556354-3452.
Tel: +46 31 721 80 00. Fax: +46 31 721 80 90. E-mail: info@vitrolife.com. Website: www.vitrolife.com