Vital Therapies Announces Presentation of ELAD(R) 'Artificial Liver' Data at American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases 2007 Annu...( BOSTON Nov. 7 /- Vital Therapies ...),Health

BOSTON, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Vital Therapies, Inc. (VTI), announced today data from two studies of the company's ELAD(R) (Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device) System were presented at the 2007 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Annual Meeting, which was held November 2-6 in Boston, Mass.

-- Abstract (#91), "Interim results of Randomized Controlled Trial of

ELAD(R) in Acute on Chronic Liver Disease," was presented in a

parallel session on Monday, November 5th. This controlled, randomized

(2:1) clinical trial enrolled 69 patients with acute-on-chronic liver

failure in two protocols at two centers in Beijing, China. The first

49 patient protocol resulted in a 30 day transplant-free survival rate

of 50% in the controls and 87% in the treated group (p<0.01). The

second protocol, which had a shorter ELAD(R) treatment time, did not

reach statistical significance. Initial conclusions from this trial

demonstrated ELAD(R) is safe and effective in this patient population

when used with the longer treatment time.

-- Abstract (#855), "ELAD(R) Cellular and System Performance

Improvements," was a poster presentation detailing the metabolic

characteristics of the ELAD(R) cartridges in order to optimize

performance.

Terry Winters, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO said, "These data are consistent with our previous research and experience. ELAD is helping patients and the technology continues to be refined for optimum benefit. These are positive developments as we apply for marketing approval in China and advance our U.S. clinical program."

To date, only liver transplantation has been shown to increase survival. However, demand for liver transplantation far exceeds the supply of donor livers, creating a need for an alternative, lifesaving therapy such as ELAD(R). In China alone, an estimated 160 million
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