Aethlon receives approval to begin Hemopurifier study at Sarcoma Oncology Center

Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCBB:AEMD), the pioneer in developing therapeutic filtration devices to address infectious disease and cancer, announced today that a cancer research study to test the ex vivo effectiveness of the Aethlon Hemopurifier® to capture tumor-secreted exosomes from the blood of advanced-stage cancer patients has received institutional review board approval to begin studies at the Sarcoma Oncology Center, based in Santa Monica, California. The study will enroll up to 25 patients with metastatic cancer, including those with non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer, and sarcoma.  Testing of blood samples provided by three enrolled sarcoma patients has already been initiated.  The study goal is to establish the first validation that a medical device, the Aethlon Hemopurifier®, can effectively capture tumor-secreted exosomes from the blood of cancer patients.  Successful study outcomes would provide a basis for follow-on human treatment studies in cancer patients.

Tumor-secreted exosomes, which are not addressed by drug therapy, assist cancerous tumors in evading the immune response and are implicated in the survival, growth, and metastasis of cancer.  The Aethlon Hemopurifier® is a first-in-class medical device with broad-spectrum capabilities against viral pathogens, including HIV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV).  The device has also demonstrated the ability to capture tumor-secreted exosomes from cell culture and human ascites fluids.  At present, the Hemopurifier® is being evaluated in human studies as an adjunct therapy to improve outcomes of HCV patients receiving interferon therapy.