The company’s ESS system is designed to stimulate progenitor stem cells in the bone marrow.

Subjects in the study diagnosed with mild to moderate anemia were administered 1800mg of the company’s oral formulation daily for seven days. Each subject underwent weekly blood sampling, including hemoglobin, hematocrit and reticulocyte count for four weeks from the initial dosing, and once more 45 days following the initial dose. Hemoglobin increased an average of 11.39 percent from baseline measurement to 45 days. The average baseline hemoglobin measurement was 10.08 and 11.21 after 45 days with a similar increase in reticulocyte count (p<0.01).

“This is the first demonstration that an oral stimulation of progenitor red blood cells with a targeted amino acid therapy can initiate progenitor stem cell conversion of undifferentiated red blood cells to mature red blood cells with an increase in hemoglobin content in patients with chronic anemia,” said William Shell, M.D., CEO of Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc. “Developing an oral system for stimulating mature blood cells from progenitor cells is a milestone for our company and may represent a method to modulate red blood cell function in patients with anemia.”

Preliminary results of the study released last year also found a 16 percent increase in hemoglobin and a 450 percent increase in peripheral reticulocytes over a seven day period (p<0.01) among normal volunteers taking ESS. The company plans to perform further testing of its red blood cell stimulating system and to explore treatment applications in other forms of anemia.