The NUC under investigation is a regenerative medicine product comprised of the patient's own smooth muscle cells, procured from a fat biopsy. Tengion has developed appropriate culture conditions to reproducibly generate the necessary quantities of SMC in vitro from autologous adipose tissue biopsies. The NUC is produced at Tengion's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) qualified clinical production facility. In this process, smooth muscle cells (SMC) obtained from an adipose tissue biopsy are propagated ex-vivo for approximately 3 - 4 weeks. At the end of this process, the SMCs are seeded onto the surface of a biodegradable PGA/PLGA mesh scaffold to form the NUC. The NUC is shipped to the investigative site for surgical implantation. Over time, the NUC should facilitate the regeneration of urinary tract tissue.
