SILVER SPRING, Md., July 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nuvilex, Inc. (NVLX), a biotechnology provider of cell and gene therapy solutions, announced today a significant new development in pancreatic cancer research. Pancreatic tumor models in animals have not existed previously that accurately mimic human pancreatic cancer. This research advancement, accomplished by the Nuvilex subsidiary, Austrianova Singapore and their colleagues was just published in the journal PLoS One.

Dr. Robert F. Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of Nuvilex, commented, "The usefulness of this mouse model for future development of Nuvilex's pancreatic cancer treatments is significant. They will become a critical tool for the testing of our next generation of encapsulated live-cell pancreatic cancer treatments, particularly for producing active chemotherapeutic drugs at the tumor site. We believe our Cell-In-A-Box(R) live-cell encapsulated technology has important advantages over standard chemotherapy and radiation-based treatments, especially since it has been shown to work in the presence of low dose chemotherapy."

Dr. Walter Gunzburg, added, "The pancreatic cancer mouse models were created with our colleagues at the University of Vienna Veterinary School and are clinically important since they mimic human pancreatic cancer. Most cancers, including pancreatic, involve changes in only one organ, location and cell type, which was the major accomplishment of this model. The most important aspect of this model system is the location of pancreatic tumor cells to the pancreas, exactly like what is observed in pancreatic cancer patients."

The paper substantially advanced the mouse models made using human pancreatic tumor cells since the tumor cells were implanted in the pancreas, unlike the usual subcutaneous models. This new model is designed for advancing and fine tuning the Nuvilex pancreatic cancer encapsulated live-cell treatments that have already been successfully used in humans and is being prepared for late stage pancreatic cancer clinical trials by Nuvilex and Austrianova Singapore.

Austrianova Singapore's Chief Executive, Dr. Brian Salmons, stated, "We are excited by these new models since they should allow greater insight into developing more advanced therapies and improvements even as we prepare for our next human pancreatic cancer clinical trial. From what we have learned to date, these models are more relevant for the human pancreatic cancer and should aid in the development of more robust pancreatic cancer treatments."

Dr. Ryan concluded, "In the United States, pancreatic cancer remains the fourth leading cause of death from all cancers and has the highest mortality rate. We hope to use these mouse models for advancing our next generation pancreatic cancer treatment, which is already underway. Furthermore, they could become useful not only for our work, but for potentially generating revenue from other companies developing their own treatments for pancreatic cancer. Most importantly, this innovation brings Nuvilex one step closer to expanding our cell therapy treatments for pancreatic cancer, including the one under development for late Phase 2 clinical trials."

About Nuvilex

Nuvilex, Inc. (NVLX) is an international biotechnology provider of live therapeutically valuable, encapsulated cells and services for research and medicine. Our company's clinical offerings will include cancer, diabetes and other treatments using the company's cell and gene therapy expertise and live-cell encapsulation technology.

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Nuvilex Announces Substantial Development in Pancreatic Cancer Research

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