BioTime Announces First Patient Treated in Pivotal Clinical Trial of Renevia for HIV-Associated Lipoatrophy ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Announces First Patient Treated in Pivotal Clinical Trial of Renevia

for HIV-Associated Lipoatrophy

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 24, 2015--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE

MKT: BTX) today announced that the first patient was successfully

treated in the Company's pivotal clinical trial in Europe assessing the

efficacy of Renevia for the treatment of HIV-associated

lipoatrophy. HIV-associated lipoatrophy is a disorder characterized by

abnormal loss of body fat from under the skin that occurs in almost half

of the approximately three million people on anti-retroviral therapy in

the U.S. and Europe. Renevia is a proprietary injectable matrix

designed to facilitate the stable engraftment of transplanted cells. The

uniqueness of Renevia is that it allows the mixture of cells with the

matrix in a liquid form such that the cells and matrix can be injected

easily and safely through a small gauge syringe, and then the matrix can

polymerize around the cells to create a three-dimensional tissue within

In the trial, Renevia is being tested as a delivery matrix for

the patient's own fat-derived cells and injected into portions of the

patient's face where there is facial lipoatrophy in order to promote

facial tissue reconstruction. The first treatment marks the beginning of

enrollment for this pivotal trial and follows the previous successful

safety trial of Renevia, the completion of which was announced in

2014. The procedure was performed at The Stem Center in Palma de

Mallorca, Spain, an innovative patient therapy center and a global

leader in clinical research aimed at the use of a patient's adipose

derived stem cells for cosmetic and regenerative therapies. The clinical

site is located within the Clinica USP Palma Planas hospital in Palma.

"The current options for patients with facial lipoatrophy do not provide

a natural long lasting result, so I am excited to be leading this

important clinical trial to bring Renevia to this community,"

said Ramon Llull, MD, PhD, Medical Director of The Stem Center and

Principal Investigator for the Renevia studies. Dr. Llull is a

leading expert on advanced regenerative therapies based on lipotransfer.

"The first subject treated in our Renevia pivotal trial is

a significant clinical milestone for an important BioTime pipeline

product," said Adi Mohanty, BioTime's Chief Operating Officer. "Renevia

is based on our proprietary HyStem technology

platform for cell and molecule transfer, and has the potential to be the

first CE-marked injectable delivery vehicle for safe transplantation of

therapeutic cells. We are optimistic about the promise of this

technology platform because of the potential to solve a major hurdle in

the development of effective cell transplant therapies. We believe that

meeting the endpoint in our Renevia pivotal trial could lead to

submission for CE Mark approval in 2016 for HIV related facial

lipoatrophy, and could pave the way for other future applications in

transplanting other types of cells to address unmet medical needs."

On November 4, 2014, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Health Products

("AEMPS") authorized BioTime to conduct a randomized, evaluator-blinded,

delayed-treatment-controlled study of the effectiveness and safety of Renevia

as a resorbable matrix for the delivery of autologous adipose-derived

cells to treat subcutaneous facial lipoatrophy defects associated with

antiviral therapy for HIV infection. The pivotal study will include a

minimum of 56 and up to 92 HIV positive males and females between 18-65

years of age. Subjects will be randomized with half in the treatment

group and half in a delayed-treatment cohort, each receiving a single

treatment procedure of Renevia with autologous adipose cells

harvested by liposuction and implanted in the mid-facial region. The

primary effectiveness measure will be the comparison of the change in

skin thickness between the treatment and delayed treatment groups. A

secondary endpoint will be mid-face volume deficit and global aesthetic

improvement scores. Patients will be monitored at one, three, and

six-month intervals after treatment. Additional information on the trial

will be made available on BioTime's website at www.biotimeinc.com.

About Facial Lipoatrophy and HIV-related Facial Lipoatrophy

Facial lipoatrophy is the loss of facial fat tissue, which is a key

component for an overall youthful facial appearance. Facial lipoatrophy

is an unfortunate, but inevitable, condition that typically develops as

we age but is dramatically accelerated in those HIV-infected individuals

being treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). Indeed the loss of

facial fat can be nearly complete in these individuals on ART.

In HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) facial

lipoatrophy is common and particularly devastating. The resulting facial

wasting ages the individual's appearance prematurely and, along with a

thinning of the skin, allows musculature and vasculature to be easily

seen, resulting in what is commonly known as "the face of AIDS."

Treatment of the condition has been determined to be medically advisable

to improve the individual's self-esteem and quality of life.

Because ART has greatly increased long term survival in HIV-positive

patients the incidence of associated lipoatrophy has risen dramatically.

According to statistics published by AVERT (www.avert.org),

worldwide there were 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2011.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 10 million of these are

receiving ART. That number is expected to grow to 15 million people by

HyStem Technology and Renevia

BioTime's HyStem hydrogels, including Renevia,

are a family of unique and proprietary biomaterials that are designed to

function as adhesion matrices for the stable attachment and survival of

cells. The failure rate in many applications of cell grafts without such

a matrix is high because of difficulties in achieving cell attachment

and survival. The achievement of high success rates for cell grafts

would create opportunities to develop cell therapies for many high unmet

medical needs. A unique feature of the proprietary technology is that it

allows the mixture of cells with the matrix in a liquid form such that

the cells and matrix can be injected easily and safely through a small

gauge syringe, and then the matrix can polymerize around the cells to

create a three-dimensional tissue within the body. The matrix is then

resorbed by the body over a few months. HyStem hydrogels are

currently sold worldwide by BioTime and its distributors for

pre-clinical research for a wide array of applications in regenerative

medicine including the engraftment of cells in the brain, liver,

cartilage and bone, heart, and vocal cords. Premvia , a HyStem