POSITIVE PHARMACOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL DATA FOR CHEMOPREVENTION ON BILBERRY EXTRACT

Milan, December 2nd, 2009 - Pharmacological and clinical data for colorectal carcinoma chemoprevention on Indena's standardized bilberry extract Mirtoselect^® were presented by Professor Andreas Gescher from the University of Leicester (UK) at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Italian Cancer Society (SIC) in Sesto San Giovanni, Milano (November 23rd-24th, 2009) during the session of "Dietary Supplements and Nutraceuticals in the Management of Cancer".

Following a study in preclinical carcinogenesis model suggesting that Mirtoselect^® may prevent malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract, the first-in-human pilot clinical trial has been presented at the Congress.
25 patients with colorectal cancer (and scheduled to undergo resection of primary tumor or liver metastasis) received Mirtoselect^® 1.4, 2.8 and 5.6 grams daily for 7 days before surgery. Anthocyanins and metabolites were measured in plasma and colorectal tissue.
Mirtoselect^® reduced tumor proliferation in colorectal tumor samples taken from all patients who received the product by 7% compared with pre-intervention values.

"We are pleased that professor Gescher decided to use our product for his research as result of its high level of standardization, chemical characterization and safety profile. These data, even if preliminary, showed that anthocyanins rich bilberry extract may induce beneficial pharmacodynamic changes to counter tumor development in patients" said Antonella Riva, Senior Research Scientist at Indena.

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