TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 2, 2004-- Tissera, Inc.

Tissera, Inc. (OTCBB: TSSRE – News) reports that Tissera's sponsored research team at the Weizmann Institute of Science has defined a specific gestational time window for harvesting porcine fetal pancreatic tissue for transplantation purposes. This hitherto unknown specific time window of opportunity might explain in part previous failures of trials of transplantation of porcine fetal pancreatic tissue into diabetic patients.

 

The results of this research indicate that the growth potential of fetal pancreatic tissue obtained at an appropriate gestational time is superior to that exhibited by pancreatic tissues used in previous studies. Furthermore, the curative potential of this approach has been demonstrated in a mouse model of insulin-dependent diabetes, in which implantation of porcine fetal pancreatic tissue has resulted in normalization of blood sugar levels.

 

As an additional advantageous feature, this appropriately timed fetal pancreatic tissue displays reduced immunogenicity, allowing for graft acceptance in immune-competent mice, under a relatively mild immunosuppressive treatment.

 

Diabetes Mellitus is a severe and debilitating chronic disease that develops in nearly 5 percent of the world’s population.  People with this disease have a shortage of insulin or a reduced ability to use insulin, the hormone regulating blood glucose levels, which is normally produced by the pancreas. In the United States alone, an estimated 18 million people have diabetes, and each year about 1 million Americans aged 20 or older are diagnosed with the disease.  It is the sixth leading cause of death in the US and is responsible for over 200,000 deaths a year. Insulin-dependent diabetes accounts for around 10% of diabetics. For those patients, suffering from an inability of their pancreas to produce insulin, the only practical treatment possible is regular insulin replacement by multiple daily injections. Transplantation of a pancreas or pancreatic tissue would be beneficial to millions of such patients in that it would restore their normal ability to produce self insulin. Transplantation of human pancreas or pancreatic islets is a practiced and time-honored  such therapeutic approach, but is extremely limited by the severe shortage of human donor organs. Tissera's R&D efforts in this domain are directed towards the development of a universally available and reliable source of fetal animal donor pancreatic precursor tissue, suitable for transplantation and eventual normal structural and functional growth in human diabetics. The currently described achievements are a step forward in the implementation of this mission.  

 

 

 

About Tissera

Tissera is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel tissue precursor regeneration technologies for treating gene deficiencies and diseases in which organ transplantation is necessary, while minimizing the dosage of immunosuppressive drugs. Tissera obtained the license for the worldwide exclusive rights to the technology developed by Professor Yair Reisner and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In this research, scientists successfully implanted in mice embryonic human and porcine organ precursor tissues, which grew into functional organs. This research was published in Nature Medicine and attracted worldwide scientific and media attention.

 

Safe Harbor Statement

"Statements in this document that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding our developing technology into a useful product, our moving forward with our plans for trials, and our plans to expand the Company's infrastructure. Actual outcomes and our actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Such statements, including statements regarding freedom to operate, patentability, infringement, clinical trials, involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied herein. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks associated with new product development (including clinical trials outcome and regulatory requirements/actions), competitive risks to marketed products and availability of financing that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as the inability to further finance our plans and unforeseen technical difficulties in developing our technology, which could among other things, delay or prevent product development and our planned results. For further risk factors see the Company's 10-KSB filed with the SEC for our latest fiscal year."

 

 

CONTACT:     Tissera, Inc. (Investor Relations)

             Dr. Uri Elmaleh, 972-54-2223344

             uri@tissera.com

 

SOURCE:           Tissera, Inc.