Exten Industries (fka BB: EXTI)

[Patricia_1]

1999 article re Sybiol device/Loyola/Xenogenics


Giovanni Ambrosino, MD Newest Appointee to Xenogenics Scientific Advisory Board - SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 6, 1999--Dr. Giovanni Ambrosino was appointed to the Xenogenics Scientific Advisory Board, according to Jim Considine, MD, MBA, president of the Xenogenics Corp. (OTC BB:EXTI). "Dr. Ambrosino heads the Xenogenics research at the University of Padova in Italy, where he started their bioartifical liver program in 1990. He has developed a new biomatrix to prolong function and survival of cultured hepatocytes, so we expect his contributions to complement and help speed our research results," added Considine.

Ambrosino is Professor of Surgery and Director of the Bioartifical Liver Program in the First Surgical Department and Liver Transplantation Unit at the University of Padova, Italy. He is a member of the U.S. Academy of Surgical Research and the Italian Surgical Society, and is responsible for the Liver and GI Transplantation Unit project with Miami University Medical School and the University of Padova and Rome.

From 1994 to 1997 he worked at the University of Pittsburgh with the renowned Dr. T. E. Starzl on several experiments on immunosuppression, acute liver failure and xenotransplantation. Ambrosino also worked at Mass General Hospital in Boston with G. Nardi on several important projects on liver and pancreatic diseases.

He received an award from Harvard Medical School for promoting cultural and scientific exchange between the U.S. and Italy. He has performed over 250 adult liver transplantations, 25 in children and one living related donor transplant, and has published six manuscripts and over 300 papers.

The SybioIR liver support device is designed for use before and after transplant surgery or as an "artificial liver" to transplant candidates when no donor organ is available, and to assist chronic liver disease or liver trauma patients. The patent-pending SybioIR technology provides continuous, sustained extracorporeal removal of human blood toxins. Using living porcine liver cells, it will filter the patients blood to perform a function for the liver comparable to that which renal dialysis performs for kidneys. It is currently in pre-clinical testing at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago as well as at the University of Padova in Italy.

Xenogenics Corp., developer of the SybioIR synthetic bio-liver technology, is a subsidiary of Exten Industries Inc. (OTC BB:EXTI). Both companies are at 9625 Black Mountain Rd., Ste. 218, San Diego, Calif. 92126-4564. For more information call the contacts below or e-mail [e-mail]. Exten's Web site is http://www.exten.com. This news release contains forward-looking statements based on the company's expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially.