Important - get the overview straight from the president (12-16-03 interview): http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/profiles/ExtenIndustries.html - more products coming to market - talks about the advantages to their cell line - talks about how they already are producing therapeutic proteins - talks about the importance of their adult stem cell patent
The Exten Industries business is built around a revolutionary liver cell lines they have developed and patented. These offer many significant advantages, including they are:
1 - human (as opposed to porcine) liver cells that replicate and function without stimulating an immune response in the host, thereby providing a renewable source of cells to treat liver failure without immune-system side effects. 2 - nontumorigenic (non-cancerous, as opposed to other's cancerous human cell lines) 3 - immortalized (The ability of a genetically engineered cell line to reproduce indefinitely) 4 - fully-functional (as discovered by Pfizer & now, Roche, & as opposed to others, which aren't) 5 - readily available (as opposed to porcine, rat or human liver "slices") 6 - cost-effective (as opposed to porcine, rat or human liver "slices")
These cell lines are enabling EXTI to enter (and possibly dominate) 4 major markets - I'm listing these in the order I think they will be able to enter the respective markets, starting with the market they are already in:
1 - the $3.7 billion Hepatocyte Test Kit market through their MultiCell subsidiary. Through their world wide marketing and distribution agreement with XenoTech has these test kits on the market today, with their product launched at the ISSX Meeting beginning Oct 12, 2003 and is currently being marketed worldwide. Many expect this cell line to become the gold standard for this market.
XenoTech saw Pfizer's presentation and from that sought out EXTI to become their manufacturer. That focus enabled us to quickly identify it as a potential breakthrough, which our evaluations verified.
Thus XenoTech sought out EXTI and did their own independent testing before signing to be their marketing partner on these cell lines for hepatocyte test kits. The product is now being marketed world wide, starting with 3 important conferences.
2 - the $43 billion Therapeutic Protein Production market through their MultiCell subsidiary. Being fully functional liver cells, they can generate therapeutic proteins with high yield and low cost vs. current methods and even can generate supplies where none exist today. Here are a couple of links with more on Therapeutic Proteins
3 - the $2 billion bioartificial liver market through their Xenogenics subsidiary. Think of it as dialysis for the liver. Again, these fully functional immortalized liver cell lines give EXTI a major advantage in this market. Also, the design of the device is a major advantage as well. The Sybiol is designed with specially patented chambers which allow the cells to circulate for maximum efficiency and even longer utility, reducing costs to hospitals vs. the competition.
Dr. Maggio commented, "Exten Industries' cell-based toxicological and drug screening technologies address certain critical needs among pharmaceutical and biotech companies to make more accurate assessments of the likely success of new drug candidates before they are actually placed into clinical trials. This technology promises to increase the efficiency of drug discovery and save many millions of dollars by reducing the ultimate failure rate in clinical trials, benefiting both drug companies and consumers alike."