Prestigious Medical Journal Publishes Data On Xcorporeal's Wearable Artificial Kidney

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 19 Dec 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Xcorporeal, Inc. (AMEX:XCR) announced that The Lancet, a leading medical journal, has published an article on the Company's Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK) prototype device in its Journal dated December 15, 2007. The data, from a pilot study conducted by Drs. Andrew Davenport and Victor Gura at the Royal Free and University College Hospital Medical School, London, UK, showed that the WAK's clearance rate, if sustained and used continuously, could be more effective than conventional three times weekly or daily hemodialysis treatment. This proof of concept study also provides preliminary indications on the safety features of the WAK and permitted the patient to be ambulatory during treatment.

"We believe this study demonstrates the potential the WAK has in providing an ambulatory treatment solution for the more than 1.2 million worldwide dialysis patients with End Stage Renal Failure," said Dr. Victor Gura, Xcorporeal's Chief Scientific and Medical Officer. "Unlike other treatment modalities available today, the WAK might potentially offer the hope of reducing mortality and improving the quality of life of this unfortunate population. Several larger and longer clinical studies are still needed to confirm these expectations."

The WAK is a battery-powered, wearable dialysis machine that will allow users to have their blood cleansed round the clock instead of being tethered to conventional dialysis machines, intermittently, for many hours.

An abstract of the article is available for free here. The full article is also available at http://www.thelancet.com with a paid subscription.

Recently, the Company's WAK was also featured in a story by Reuters. The entire article can be found here.

About Xcorporeal

Xcorporeal, Inc. is a medical device company developing an innovative extra-corporeal platform technology that may be used in devices to replace the function of various human organs. The platform will lead to three initial products; a device for home hemodialysis, another device for hospital Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and the WAK for continuous ambulatory hemodialysis. These devices will seek to provide patients with improved, efficient and cost effective therapy. The RRT markets represent multibillion dollar opportunities.

For the RRT market, Xcorporeal is developing a portable, multifunctional renal replacement device that will offer cost effective therapy for those patients suffering from Acute Renal Failure which causes a rapid decline in kidney function. In the U.S., the disease affects more than 200,000 patients annually, with a mortality rate of 50%. The Xcorporeal platform technology is a natural fit for the hospital RRT market since the technology is designed to provide cost-effective, continuous therapy. The projected 2007 market opportunity for the U.S. is approximately $1.4 billion. The disposable market is expected to grow at 10% per year. The devices typically need to be replaced every five years. The Company intends to commercialize this device during the first half of 2009.

Xcorporeal also plans to commercialize a home hemodialysis machine and the WAK for the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) market, which are patients in which the kidneys cease to function. Xcorporeal's devices will combine the best attributes of currently marketed home hemodialysis machines to create hemodialysis devices which offer patients convenient, durable and truly portable devices for home use. The Company believes its machines will provide a cost-effective alternative to current home treatment modalities, due to their ability to offer hemodialysis without the need for large quantities of dialysate fluid or purified water. The WAK will be a revolutionary device intended to enable patients with ESRD to achieve a quality of life closer to that of healthy individuals.

Additional Company information may be found on the Internet at: http://www.xcorporeal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history, difficulty in developing, exploiting and protecting proprietary technologies, intense competition and substantial regulation in the medical device industry; and additional risks factors as discussed in the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on its website at http://www.sec.gov.