Full Press Release Details
Biotherapeutics, Inc. Launches New Website:
Asteriasbiotherapeutics.com
Inc. Subsidiary Acquired Geron Corp's Therapeutic Stem Cell Assets in
MENLO PARK, Calif. & ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21,
2014--Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc.
(NYSE MKT: BTX) that is developing clinical-stage stem cell therapeutic
assets acquired from Geron Corporation, today announced the launch of
its new website, www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com. The website
provides information about Asterias, including its core technologies,
areas of product development focus, intellectual property portfolio, key
publications, SEC filings, and management team.
About Asterias Biotherapeutics
Asterias Biotherapeutics ("Asterias") is a biotechnology company focused
on the emerging field of regenerative medicine. Our core technologies
center on stem cells capable of becoming all of the cell types in the
human body, a property called pluripotency. We plan to develop therapies
based on pluripotent stem cells to treat diseases or injuries in a
variety of medical fields, with an initial clinical focus on the
therapeutic applications of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (AST-OPC1)
and antigen-presenting dendritic cells (AST-VAC1 and AST-VAC2)
for the fields of neurology and oncology respectively. AST-OPC1
was tested for treatment of spinal cord injury in the world's first
Phase 1 clinical trial using human embryonic stem cell-derived cells. We
plan to reinitiate clinical testing of AST-OPC1 in spinal cord
injury this year, and are also evaluating its function in nonclinical
models of multiple sclerosis and stroke. AST-VAC1 and AST-VAC2
are dendritic cell-based vaccines designed to immunize cancer patients
against telomerase, a protein abnormally expressed in over 95% of human
cancer types. AST-VAC2 differs from AST-VAC1 in that the
dendritic cells presenting telomerase to the immune system are produced
from human embryonic stem cells instead of being derived from human
In October of 2013, Asterias acquired the cell therapy assets of Geron
Corporation. These assets included INDs for the clinical stage AST-OPC1
and AST-VAC1 programs, banks of cGMP-manufactured AST-OPC1
drug product, cGMP master and working cell banks of human embryonic stem
cells, over 400 patents and patent applications filed worldwide
including broad issued claims to fundamental platform technologies for
the scalable growth of pluripotent stem cells and compositions of matter
for several hESC-derived therapeutic cell types, research cell banks,
customized reagents and equipment, and various assets relating to the
AST-VAC2 program and preclinical programs in cardiology, orthopedics,
and diabetes. Pursuant to the terms of the Asset Contribution Agreement
relating to this acquisition, Asterias' Series A common stock will be
distributed to Geron's shareholders of record as of the record date,
which has been set by Geron as May 28, 2014.
Asterias is a member of the BioTime family of companies.
Additional information about Asterias can be found at www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com.
BioTime is a biotechnology company engaged in research and product
development in the field of regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine
refers to therapies based on stem cell technology that are designed to
rebuild cell and tissue function lost due to degenerative disease or
injury. BioTime's focus is on pluripotent stem cell technology based on
human embryonic stem ("hES") cells and induced pluripotent stem ("iPS")
cells. hES and iPS cells provide a means of manufacturing every cell
type in the human body and therefore show considerable promise for the
development of a number of new therapeutic products. BioTime's
therapeutic and research products include a wide array of proprietary PureStem
progenitors, HyStem hydrogels, culture media,
and differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia (a HyStem
product) as a biocompatible, implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based
matrix for cell delivery in human clinical applications, and is planning
to initiate a pivotal clinical trial around Renevia , in 2014. In
addition, BioTime has developed Hextend , a blood
plasma volume expander for use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment
and other applications. Hextend is manufactured
and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira, Inc. and in South Korea by CJ
HealthCare Corporation, under exclusive licensing agreements.
BioTime is also developing stem cell and other products for research,
therapeutic, and diagnostic use through its subsidiaries:
Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a new subsidiary which has
acquired the stem cell assets of Geron Corporation, including patents
and other intellectual property, biological materials, reagents and
equipment for the development of new therapeutic products for
regenerative medicine.
BioTime Asia, Ltd., a Hong Kong company, may offer and sell
products for research use for BioTime's ESI BIO Division.
Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. is an Israel-based biotechnology
company focused on developing stem cell-based therapies for retinal
and neurological disorders, including the development of retinal
pigment epithelial cells for the treatment of macular degeneration,
and treatments for multiple sclerosis.
ESI BIO is the research and product marketing division of
BioTime, providing stem cell researchers with products and
technologies to enable them to translate their work into the clinic,
including PureStem progenitors and HyStem hydrogels.
LifeMap Sciences, Inc. markets, sells, and distributes GeneCards ,
the leading human gene database, as part of an integrated database
suite that also includes the LifeMap Discovery
database of embryonic development, stem cell research, and
regenerative medicine, and MalaCards, the human disease
LifeMap Solutions, Inc. is a subsidiary of LifeMap Sciences
focused on developing mobile health (mHealth) products.
OncoCyte Corporation is developing products and technologies to
diagnose and treat cancer, including PanC-DxTM, with
three clinical trials currently underway.
OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapies to treat
orthopedic disorders, diseases and injuries.
ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. is developing therapies to treat a
variety of cardiovascular and related ischemic disorders, as well as
products for research using cell reprogramming technology.