NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Crystal Research Associates, LLC announced today that it has issued an Executive Informational Overview(r) (EIO(r)) on Vienna, Virginia-based Medgenics Inc. The full 52-page report can be found at www.crystalra.com and www.medgenics.com.
Medgenics Inc. ("Medgenics" or "the Company") is a closely held biopharmaceutical company developing a platform technology to provide sustained-action protein therapy for the treatment of a range of diseases, starting with anemia and hepatitis C. As an alternative to today's protein therapy which involves frequent bolus injections of proteins, Medgenics is developing a biological pump, called the Biopump, made using the patient's own skin. Directly addressing the majority of the $51 billion market for injected proteins, the Biopump works inside a patient's body to produce and deliver the active protein steadily for a sustained duration in order to treat a targeted indication. The Biopump platform employs a sliver of dermal tissue, which is harvested from under a patient's skin and engineered to manufacture and distribute the required therapeutic protein. Dermal tissue is processed ex vivo and transduced with a viral vector having non-immunogenic properties, which carries the appropriate gene into the nuclei of the tissue's cells and causes the cells to produce the selected protein, converting the dermal tissue into a sustained-action Biopump. Ten days after the initial harvest, the Biopump is implanted back into the patient, where it is designed to supply the active protein to the patient for at least four to six months. The Biopump creates a protein production plant within the patient, intended to alleviate the need for frequent, costly, and painful injections and to avoid their side effects.
Medgenics has already shown proof-of-principle of the Biopump to deliver erythropoietin (EPO) in a clinical trial to anemic patients, and has demonstrated semi-automated devices that when fully developed, may enable safe, reliable, and cost-effective implementation of the method at local clinics. The Company is developing two products based on its sustained-action Biopump technology: EPODURE producing EPO to treat anemia, and INFRADURE producing interferon-alpha (IFN-a) to treat hepatitis C. Medgenics plans to commence efficacy trials for EPODURE within 12 months. The Company believes its Biopump platform is able to provide a pipeline of sustained-action protein drugs capable of offering treatment for a range of other illnesses/conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), hemophilia, pediatric growth deficiencies, muscle atrophy, cancer, obesity, wound healing, diabetes, arthritis, and others. Medgenics is a U.S.-based company with a wholly owned subsidiary, Medgenics Medical Israel, Inc., in Karmiel, Israel.
About Crystal Research Associates, LLC
Crystal Research Associates, LLC is an independent research firm that provides institutional-quality fee-based research to small and mid-cap companies. The Company's unique and novel product, the Executive Informational Overview(r) (EIO(r)), is free of investment ratings, target prices, and forward-looking financial models. The EIO(r) presents a crystal-clear, detailed report on a company (whether public or private) in a manner that is easily understood by the Wall Street financial community. The EIO(r) details a company's product/technology/service offerings, market size(s), key intellectual property (IP), leadership, growth strategy, competition, risks, audited financial statements, key events and other such fundamental information. Crystal Research Associates has offices in New York City, Delray Beach, Montreal, and Toronto. Crystal Research Associates has been compensated by the Company forty thousand dollars in cash and two hundred thousand warrants for its services in creating this report, for updates, and for printing costs.
Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this news release regarding future financial and operating results, future growth in research and development programs, potential applications of the Company's technology, opportunities for the Company and any other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates," and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: limited operating history, need for future capital, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, protection of the Company's intellectual property, and economic conditions generally. Additional information on potential factors that could affect results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports.
These statements, and other forward-looking statements, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Crystal Research Associates, LLC assumes no obligation to update any of the forward looking statements in this release.