Biotech Company Developing Artificial Liver Receives $10.5 Million Through Preferred Stock Offering.LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--June 24, 1999-- VitaGen's ELAD ELAD® Extracorporeal liver assist device, see there. See Artificial liver. (TM) Artificial Liver artificial liver Biotech A cartridge with cloned human liver cells, through which blood flows to facilitate removal of waste products. See Extracorporeal liver assist device, Liver dialysis. has early success in second clinical trial at the University of Chicago A biotechnology and medical products company that has developed the world's first artificial liver announced it has secured $10.5 million from its shareholders through a series of preferred stock Stock shares that have preferential rights to dividends or to amounts distributable on liquidation, or to both, ahead of common shareholders. Preferred stock is given preference over common stock. Holders of preferred stock receive dividends at a fixed annual rate. offerings, according to C. Richard Piazza, president and chief executive officer of VitaGen Inc. Lead shareholders include Chase Capital Partners, Becton Dickinson, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Life and Radius Health Ventures. Piazza said the funding will help VitaGen expand its clinical trials to more sites at key universities, including King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a primary care facility in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It serves an inner city population of 700,000 in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. in London. He also noted that all of the funding came from domestic partners and that it was a pure equity investment, structured by VitaGen and the law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. "VitaGen did not have to give up any product rights to receive this funding," said Piazza. "Our partners believe in the potential of the ELAD(TM) Artificial Liver, and their investment will help us to continue our work." The ELAD(TM) Artificial Liver, an extracorporeal extracorporeal /ex·tra·cor·po·re·al/ (-kor-por´e-al) situated or occurring outside the body. ex·tra·cor·po·re·al adj. Situated or occurring outside the body. liver assist device, is currently undergoing a second clinical trial in conjunction with the University of Chicago Hospitals The University of Chicago Hospitals form a major center for medical care and research in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. They are affiliated with and run by the University of Chicago, and serve as teaching hospitals for students of the institution's Pritzker . The program began last March and is under the direction of J. Michael Millis, M.D., associate professor of surgery and director of the Liver Transplant Program. An Illinois woman recently became the first in the world to be kept alive with the device. In April, the woman became fatally ill when she experienced rapid liver failure, a condition that primarily strikes healthy young adults. After arriving at the University of Chicago Medical Center, she was attached to the ELAD(TM) Artificial Liver and remained stable until a liver donor was found two days later. VitaGen scientists developed the ELAD(TM) Artificial Liver by incorporating a living functional human liver cell line to provide additional external liver support to bridge the patient to transplant or to allow the patient's native liver to recover and to potentially regenerate itself to a healthy state. VitaGen Inc., a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. , developed the ELAD(TM) Artificial Liver at its La Jolla, Calif., headquarters and manufactures the product at its fully compliant, licensed cGMP manufacturing facility in San Diego. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are largely based on the company's expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which can be beyond the company's control. |
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