Living Cell Technologies Showcases Proprietary Nanobiocapsules at NZBio 2008
April 2, 2008, Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. Living Cell Technologies Limited (ASX:LCT; OTC: LVCLY.PK)
today announced that Dr Paul Tan, LCT CEO and Dr Anil K Anal, LCT Material Scientist, presented data at a session on
nanotechnology at the NZBio 2008 Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. Their presentation showcased the company’s
proprietary nanobiocapsules which allow encapsulated pig insulin producing cells, DiabeCellR, to be implanted without
the use of toxic immune suppressive drugs.
On March 31, the Company reported positive early preliminary data from an on-going Phase I/IIa clinical trial which
shows that following implant into patients with insulin dependent diabetes, the encapsulated porcine pancreatic islets
remain functioning for at least 6 months and beneficial effects were greater than expected.
Dr Paul Tan said “The positive clinical effects indicate that our technology has succeeded in placing cells into gel
capsules which allow oxygen and nutrients to pass inward and insulin to diffuse outward while preventing immune agents
from destroying the cells. This was achieved due to the highly selective materials used layer by layer to form the
capsule wall with pores of the appropriate size and nanoscale.”
Scientific American describes Nanotechnology as technology which “broadly applies to control of materials and components
only a few billionths of a meter in size.” LCT’s nanobiocapsules are the result of controlled chemical reactions that
produce molecular structures with pores less than 50 nanometers diameter as seen by atomic force microscopy and confocal
laser scanning microscopy.
ENDS