Aethlon Medical Releases Shareholder Letter

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aethlon Medical, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: AEMD) disclosed today that its Chairman and CEO, James A. Joyce has issued the following letter to shareholders.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090325/LA88762LOGO-b)

To our Shareholders:

Contrary to the value reflected in our shares, I have never been more confident in our business enterprise. We have created an expansive technology platform that provides a foundation to address large and growing markets that previously were beyond the reach of the medical device industry. With the addition of Rod Kenley and other best-in-industry talent to our team, we have also increased our effectiveness in advancing established and new opportunities with government and non-government healthcare organizations.

With that said, I am honored to have shareholders that remain committed to supporting our vision for treating infectious disease and cancer. Especially when considering the challenge of creating a medical device mechanism that previously didn't exist.  This fact alone meant an early reliance on individual investors to provide funding as the mainstream investment and medical community, including government health agencies, would have limited interest in a therapeutic concept not based on a traditional drug or vaccine pathway.  Along the way, some of you became my friend and have been by my side as I welcomed a son and daughter into the world. You share my conviction that we can save lives. Some of you may recall the hardship of having to restart our R&D programs when we discontinued our focus on treating harmful metal intoxicants.  Then came the extended dry period before we introduced a conceptual Hemopurifier® designed to have broad-spectrum capabilities against different strains, species, and families of viral pathogens.  We clearly understand the adage that overnight success in the therapeutic world is measured in decades.

Today, that conceptual Hemopurifier® has evolved to become:

- A leading (and perhaps only) broad-spectrum treatment countermeasure against bioterror and pandemic threats based on preclinical and clinical data.  Our device has positioned us to pursue multiple non-dilutive contract and grant opportunities with government and military agencies.

- The sole therapeutic strategy in cancer to reduce the burden of exosomes secreted by all tumors to cause the death of immune cells needed to combat cancer.

- A therapeutic strategy to extend the life of HIV-infected individuals once they no longer respond to antiviral drug regimens. This is based on our real world clinical demonstration of reversing disease progression in an AIDS patient in the absence of drug therapy.

- An enduring strategy to accelerate the benefit of current and future iterations of Hepatitis-C (HCV) standard of care (SOC) drug therapy. We previously demonstrated the capability to safely reduce viral load in HCV infected patients in the absence of drug therapy and have initiated clinical programs to demonstrate our ability to  accelerate early viral load depletion when combined with SOC.  Successful outcomes will lead to first commercialization of our technology.

To provide further clarity, please understand that the most prevalent use of therapeutic filtration today is directed towards end stage renal disease (kidney dialysis), which represents a global market opportunity of 1.2 million individuals.  The industry leader in addressing this market is Fresenius Medical Care with a public market value of $18+ billion.   We have positioned ourselves to establish the therapeutic filtration principles of our Hemopurifier® in the cancer market (20 million afflicted / 7 million deaths each year), the HIV market (33 million infected), and the HCV market (180 million infected).  This is certainly an opportunity that would be envied by any organization.  In this regard, I am immensely proud of what we have created together.  It was not Fresenius, Baxter, Medtronic, or Johnson & Johnson that created the Hemopurifier®, it was Aethlon Medical.

In closing, I also recognize that some of you may have lost faith and departed as a shareholder.  For those, I hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back in the future. I suspect the rationale that first triggered you to first become a stakeholder in Aethlon Medical still exists.  

You can expect another letter from me not long after upcoming meetings in DC on the 15th of this month. In the meantime, as a minority owner (1 share) of the Green Bay Packers, Go Cheeseheads!

On behalf of our dedicated team at Aethlon Medical, I thank you for your continued support.

Very truly yours,

James A. Joyce

Chairman, CEO

Certain of the statements herein may be forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements involve assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Aethlon Medical, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Such potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the capability of the Hemopurifier® to reduce viral loads and other disease conditions or to identify or treat disease conditions such as cancer, including the ability to capture exosomes and the impact that potential ability may have on disease conditions, the Company's ability to raise capital when needed, including obtaining government grants, the Company's ability to complete the development of its planned products, the ability of the Company to obtain FDA and other regulatory approvals permitting the sale of its products, the ability to achieve commercialization in India as a result of the proposed treatment program at Medanta, The Medicity Institute, whether successful or not, the ability of the Hemopurifier® to improve the efficacy of SOC therapy against HCV, the Company's ability to manufacture its products either internally or through outside companies and to create future generations of the Hemopurifier®, the impact of government regulations, patent protection on the Company's proprietary technology, product liability exposure, uncertainty of market acceptance, competition, technological change, and other risk factors. In such instances, actual results could differ materially as a result of a variety of factors, including the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions and other risk factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

SOURCE Aethlon Medical, Inc.