WCTF.org Transplant News

Becoming an organ donor online (News 14 Carolina)
CHARLOTTE -- For those wishing to sign up as an organ donor, doing so no longer requires a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles. April is National Donate Life Month, and a new web site, VeryBigHeart.com, has been designed to make it easier for people to donate life.

The transmission of tuberculosis from a donor organ to a transplant recipient may result in spread of the bacteria outside of the lungs, leading to a wide-spread infection, which may result in unusual symptoms that can make diagnosis difficult. Early recognition of the infection is "critical, as demonstrated by three cases described in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. [continued]

There are several factors patients can keep in mind to help make a surgery successful. Proper diet and nutrition plays a key role in preparing the patient for lung [more]

Crash transcript shows pilots' struggle (AP via Yahoo! News)
Two pilots struggled frantically to stabilize their plane in the moments before a crash last year that killed both men and a four-member organ transplant team, according to a transcript of a flight recording.

Immune Tolerance Institute Appoints Aaron B. Kantor Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer

- Dr. Kantor joins founding management team to direct ITI's Center for Critical Path Immunology -

SAN FRANCISCO, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- The Immune Tolerance Institute Inc., (ITI) today announced that Aaron B. Kantor, Ph.D. has joined the company in the position of Chief Scientific Officer, reporting to Louis A. Matis, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining ITI, Dr. Kantor served as Executive Director of Cell and Molecular Biology for Biomarker Discovery Sciences at Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc. (PPD), a leading global contract research organization (CRO) providing discovery, development and post-approval services and compound partnering programs for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations.

"We are very pleased to have Aaron join the founding management team at ITI, as he brings to the company broad-based expertise in applying a range of bioanalytical technologies to the discovery of biological markers for human diseases," said Dr. Matis. "His extensive record of accomplishments in both academic and industry settings will be invaluable to ITI as we build our Center for Critical Path Immunology and leverage the partnering opportunities for our integrated diagnostic platforms."

Dr. Kantor, 49, has more than 20 years of research and development experience. He joined PPD in 2005 when the company acquired the biomarker business of SurroMed, Inc., where he was a founding scientist and director of cell and molecular biology. At PPD, his work centered on the broad effort to discover biological markers for human diseases using bioanalytical methods including cytometry, immunoassays, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics tools. He supervised an interdisciplinary group of scientists and engineers in this effort and led the development and implementation of a laser scanning cytometry platform for clinical studies. His responsibilities also included providing input into clinical study design, protocol development, and selection and development of diagnostic assays. Major therapeutic project areas included immune and inflammatory diseases, organ transplantation and oncology.

Dr. Kantor has been a frequent presenter at scientific meetings having served as principle investigator on a variety of biomarker studies including a program to develop innovative blood fingerprinting and optical detection technologies.

Prior to his tenure at SurroMed/PPD, Dr. Kantor served as manager for the rare cell program and cell depletion therapeutic program at AmCell Corp. where he led a team establishing magnetic cell separation applications. He is co-author of more than 40 publications and 12 book chapters in the fields of immunology, cell and molecular biology, biomarkers and clinical medicine. He also received 14 provisional and full patents in the areas of cytometry, informatics and biological markers.

Dr. Kantor received a bachelor's degree in biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, a doctorate in biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and was a postdoctoral fellow in cellular and molecular immunology at Stanford University where he developed expertise in flow cytometry applications.

"I am excited to be a part of ITI," said Dr Kantor. "We have a unique opportunity to work at the crossroads of academia and biopharma to advance and industrialize immune system monitoring."

In addition to Drs. Matis and Kantor, ITI's founding management team also includes Chief Business Officer Stephen Hurst J.D., who came to ITI in June 2007 and is a veteran of more than 20 years in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to ITI, Mr. Hurst, 52, ran a successful biopharmaceutical consulting practice, recently advising the G8 governments on global health policy initiatives, serving as a biopharmaceutical industry expert for the World Bank and GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization), and as a senior advisor to BIO Ventures for Global Health on global health policy, an initiative in which he is still engaged. Prior to his consulting roles, he was co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sequential, Inc., a development-stage oncology company, and Executive Vice President at Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. (now Nektar Therapeutics, Inc.) until July 2002, where he held several key positions, including General Counsel & Secretary, interim Senior Vice President of Operations, Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing and Head of Business Development. Mr. Hurst is a graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law and the University of California, Berkeley.

About ITI

The Immune Tolerance Institute (ITI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to fill critical unmet needs for translating fundamental scientific discoveries into new therapies for the broad range of diseases related to the human immune system, including autoimmune diseases, allergy, asthma, cancer, and cardiovascular and infectious diseases. ITI is a milestone and value-driven company uniquely positioned at the intersection of academia and biopharma that offers a comprehensive constellation of scientific and bio-pharmaceutical industry expertise and services to convert knowledge-based discoveries into market-accessible products for immune system related conditions. At the company's Center for Critical Path Immunology, established as part of a recently announced collaboration with Beckman Coulter, Inc., multiple technology platforms are being deployed in high-throughput fashion to perform comprehensive cellular, molecular and immunological assays on specimens obtained from patients during clinical trials of emerging immunotherapeutics. The mechanistic data that are generated from these assays will be analyzed in parallel with clinical safety and efficacy data using cutting-edge bioinformatic approaches that leverage new insights at the nexus of emerging life science and information technologies. This approach to critical path science is designed to shorten development times, reduce both costs and failure rates in drug development and guide better informed patient selection for targeted therapies. The Institute is led by a management team with roots in both biomedical research and the biotechnology industry, and a board of directors including leaders in the field of translational medicine. For more information, visit http://www.iti-immune.org/.

Source: The Immune Tolerance Institute Inc.

CONTACT: Louis A. Matis, M.D. of Immune Tolerance Institute, Inc.,
+1-203-292-6940, lmatis@iti-immune.org; Eric Goldman (media) of Rx
Communications Group, +1-917-322-2563, egoldman@rxir.com

Web site:

http://www.iti-immune.org/

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Profile: Transplant News

The UK Transplant Center has been providing transplantation services since 1964. Our surgeons now perform over 130 transplants each year. The faculty and staff of the Transplant [more]

Lung transplant — If your lungs no longer function adequately, a transplant may offer hope. Lung transplant: A treatment for life-threatening lung disease Find out what you [more]

Wyeth to Expand State-of-the-Art Nutritional Manufacturing Facility in Singapore

MADISON, N.J. and TUAS, Singapore, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) announced today it will invest $96 million (SGD $134 million) to expand its existing nutritional manufacturing facility in Tuas, Singapore.

The expansion was officially announced during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site attended by Company officials and representatives from the Singapore Economic Development Board, which is partnering with Wyeth to support the successful completion of the project.

"This investment reflects Wyeth's 90-year heritage of scientific innovation and commitment to pediatric nutrition," says Mark Larsen, President, Asia Pacific and Nutritionals, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. "A key element of our Company's mission is ensuring that infants and children have access to the best and highest-quality products. This site will help us to continue to achieve that objective."

The state-of-the-art facility, utilizing the strictest operational and quality standards, will produce key brands of Wyeth nutritional products for infants and toddlers, including formula and milk products sold as Progress and Promise. The expansion will increase the plant's capacity by 50 percent, enabling the facility to increase its supply to the Singapore market, as well as manufacturing additional product for export to other key markets throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Expansion at the Tuas site is the final phase of a $500 million capital improvement project in the Asia Pacific region, which includes previously announced investments to Wyeth's global nutritional manufacturing and supply operations in China and the Philippines.

Ms. Aw Kah Peng, Assistant Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board, said the Government was pleased with the announcement of yet another significant investment in Singapore.

"The Economic Development Board is committed to ensuring the ongoing success of Singapore by maintaining a pro-business environment that facilitates multi-national companies' global expansion. This multi-million dollar capital intensive project provides further testament of Singapore's strategic position as key partner to leverage opportunities in expanding Asian market. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Wyeth."

About Wyeth Nutritionals Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Wyeth Nutritionals Singapore Pte. Ltd. currently operates a nutritional manufacturing plant in Tuas. The facility is used for the manufacture and packaging of infant formula and toddler nutritional powders. These powders are distributed to Wyeth markets in the Asia Pacific region.

About Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women's health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.

Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company's major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.

The statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements based on current expectations of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include the inherent uncertainty of the timing and success of, and expense associated with, research, development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our products, including with respect to our pipeline products; government cost-containment initiatives; restrictions on third-party payments for our products; substantial competition in our industry, including from branded and generic products; data generated on our products; the importance of strong performance from our principal products and our anticipated new product introductions; the highly regulated nature of our business; product liability, intellectual property and other litigation risks and environmental liabilities; uncertainty regarding our intellectual property rights and those of others; difficulties associated with, and regulatory compliance with respect to, manufacturing of our products; risks associated with our strategic relationships; economic conditions including interest and currency exchange rate fluctuations; changes in generally accepted accounting principles; trade buying patterns; the impact of legislation and regulatory compliance; risks and uncertainties associated with global operations and sales; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the caption "Item 1A, RISK FACTORS." The forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these risk factors. We assume no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

For more information, visit www.Wyeth.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Wyeth

CONTACT: Media, Rohaya Mamat, Wyeth, Singapore, Cell, +60 12488-0110,
Office, +603 7953-2238, or Kevin Wiggins, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals,
+01 484 865-5158; or Investors, Justin Victoria, Wyeth, +01 973 660-5340

Web site:

http://www.wyeth.com/

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Profile: Transplant News