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Retina Implant AG opens new manufacturing plant.Preparations in Place for Expected 2011 Launch of Subretinal Implant Technology
for the Blind .REUTLINGEN, Germany, Oct 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) - Retina Implant AG, a leading developer of subretinal implants for the visually impaired, today announced the
opening of a new manufacturing plant to meet anticipated demand for theirimplants. The company's second human clinical trial will be expanding outside of
Germany in early 2011 to European countries including the U.K. and Italy anddiscussions are underway for potential clinical trials in the United States and
Asia. Also looking ahead, the new facility meets manufacturing capabilities required for CE mark approval.The new manufacturing plant is 312 m, more than 25 times larger than the former plant, and is located in Technology Park, Tubingen-Reutlingen, Germany. Of this space, 100 m is dedicated as a clean room, with the capability to increase its size to 250 m. A clean room denotes an atmosphere with low particle numbers to
guarantee foreign biological substances will not contaminate product.Manufacturing capacity is estimated to be 1500 units per year. Retina Implant AG is planning to invest another 1.3 Mio.EUR to stock the facility with specialized
equipment to produce their state-of-the-art retinal implants. Four trainedemployees will begin working in the plant with the capacity to grow to 15 employees.
"Today marks an exciting milestone in Retina Implant's journey to restore vision
to the blind," said Walter-G. Wrobel, CEO of Retina Implant AG. "Pendingpositive results of the second human clinical trial currently underway, our new
manufacturing facility will position us well to make our implants available quickly to patients in need. We're encouraged by the first few implantedpatients in our second clinical trial, specifically with how they have been able
to function in their home without assistance." Retina Implant AG is hosting a grand opening today, October 12, 2010 at 9:00a.m. Central European Summer Time. Speakers include Retina Implant CEO Walter-G. Wrobel, Professor Eberhart Zrenner, M.D., director and chairman of the Institute
for Ophthalmic Research at the Center for Ophthalmology of the University ofTuebingen, Germany, Professor Hugo Hammerle, director of the Natural and Medical
Sciences Institute, as well as Lord Mayor Barbara Bosch.Positive clinical results from the first clinical trial found implanted patients can recognize objects and read at a basic level by moving only their eyes and
have been presented at a number of scientific meetings including the Eye and Chip Annual Meeting held in September 2010 in Detroit, Mich. as well as theAssociation for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting held
in May 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Retina Implant AG is scheduled to present the findings at the upcoming American
Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill. on October 16. About Retina Implant AG.Retina Implant AG is the leading developer of subretinal implants for partially
sighted and blind patients. After extensive research with German universityhospitals and institutes which began with a large grant from the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education in 1996, Retina Implant AG was founded by Dr. Eberhart Zrenner and his colleagues in 2003 with private investors with the goal of developing the first fully-functioning electronic retinal implant to restore useful vision to the blind. Retina Implant began implanting in human patients in
2005, and has started a second clinical trial this year. To learn more visit http://www.retina-implant.de/. SOURCE: Retina Implant AG. Source URL: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retina-implant-ag-opens-new-manufacturing-plant-2010-10-12 __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5529 (20101013) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ---------- To send a message to the list, send any message to blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------- To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to blindza-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line --- The 'homepage' for this list is at http://www.blindza.co.za
