• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Energex System's Experimental Non-Pharmacological Treatment Exceeds Expectations in Reducing Liver Inflammation in Refractory Hepatitis C Patients

Posted on: Thursday, 28 June 2007, 15:03 CDT

Energex Systems, Inc. announced today that its experimental therapy known as HemoModulation was effective in reducing viral load and liver inflammation in non-responding Hepatitis C patients. The trial was conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) that was granted by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2006.

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a viral infection of the liver and a major cause of chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer, and is now recognized as the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States. HCV is spread primarily by direct contact with human blood. The World Health Organization estimates that about 170 million people are infected with HCV, about 3% of the world's population. Approximately 5 million Americans are infected with HCV, and there are 8,000-10,000 such deaths each year in the United States.

The company's experimental treatment involves exposing a very small amount of an infected subject's blood (3-4%) to a very precise amount of ultra-violet light in the C band (UVC), for a very precise amount of time. During the process, a percentage of any pathogen in the blood that is exposed to the UVC energy is inactivated. After exposure, the blood carrying the inactive pathogen is returned to the patient through the same portal it was drawn from. The hypothesis is that UV-inactivated virus will serve as an autologous vaccine and stimulate the immune system of the subject against their own strain of virus. The process takes 20-30 minutes.

In this second trial conducted by the company, liver biopsies of the subjects were examined, graded and preserved for comparison to post treatment biopsies. Analysis and comparisons of the pre and post treatment biopsies established significant improvement in grades of inflammation of 3 of the 8 subjects (7-3, 7-4, 7-3) that completed treatment.

"Our pre-trial expectation was grade improvement in 1 of the 8 subjects and we clearly exceeded that expectation," said Thomas R. Petrie, the company's Director of Research, Development and Engineering.

Energex Systems is dedicated to improving patient quality of life by developing and commercializing novel technologies and processes that are intended to provide safer, more effective options to patients in areas with substantial unmet medical needs within the fields of immunotherapy, blood safety and musculoskeletal pain.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category