Full Press Release Details
Announces First Quarter 2013 Financial Results and Recent Corporate
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2013--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:
BTX), a biotechnology company that develops and markets products in the
field of regenerative medicine, today reported financial results for the
first quarter ended March 31, 2013 and highlighted recent corporate
First Quarter and Recent Corporate Accomplishments
Entered into an Asset Contribution Agreement with Geron Corporation
("Geron") and our subsidiary Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc.
("Asterias," formerly known as BioTime Acquisition Corporation) to
acquire from Geron certain assets related to Geron's discontinued
human embryonic stem ("hES") cell programs, consisting primarily of
patents and patent applications and other intellectual property, stem
cell lines, and investigational new drug applications ("IND") filed
with the FDA for Geron's Phase I safety study of oligodendrocyte
progenitor cells in patients with complete, subacute spinal cord
injury, as well as its Phase I/II clinical trial of its autologous
cellular immunotherapy program in patients with acute myelogenous
leukemia in complete remission. BioTime believes that the hES assets
that BioTime and its subsidiaries have developed and acquired over the
last several years, when coupled with the Geron assets that will be
acquired by BioTime's subsidiary Asterias, will assemble within the
BioTime group of companies the world's premier hES intellectual
property, cell lines, development programs, and related technologies.
Completed a $5 million financing on April 10, 2013 with a private
investor to provide capital to Asterias as part of the Asset
Contribution Agreement. Asterias also entered into its own agreement
with the same investor to obtain an additional $5 million of financing
to be funded in connection with Asterias' acquisition of the Geron
assets under Asset Contribution Agreement.
Entered into a worldwide license agreement with the University of
California, Los Angeles ("UCLA") for novel technology related to the
treatment of stroke. The licensed technology developed at UCLA uses
one of BioTime's HyStem hydrogels to
deliver locally released growth factors to improve recovery from
stroke. Concurrent with the execution of this exclusive license
agreement, BioTime has entered into a Sponsored Research Agreement
with UCLA to support on-going pre-clinical work to advance the
understanding of this technology and develop data in support for the
potential filing of an IND for human clinical trials.
BioTime subsidiary LifeMap Sciences, Inc. ("LifeMap Sciences")
released enhancements to its integrated database suite products LifeMap
BioReagents , LifeMap Discovery , GeneCards
and MalaCards and entered into a value-added reseller agreement
with Appistry, Inc., a company that provides big-data computing that
supports life-science and medical analytics at hospitals and medical
research centers and organizations. Appistry will market reports that
include LifeMap Sciences' GeneCards and MalaCards
genetic information to clinicians and researchers under a revenue
share arrangement with LifeMap Sciences, based on sales of such
reports. The market for similar data services is growing rapidly,
according to industry reports.
LifeMap Sciences entered into a commercial relationship with
ProSpec-Tany TechnoGene through which LifeMap Sciences has added 100
select recombinant proteins available for sale to researchers on its LifeMap
BioTime appointed Stephen C. Farrell to the BioTime Board of Directors
and its Audit Committee. Mr. Farrell currently serves as Chief
Executive Officer and Director of Convey Health Solutions (formerly
known as NationsHealth, Inc.), a healthcare business process
outsourcing company headquartered in Sunrise, Florida. Mr. Farrell
brings to our Board significant experience in finance, financial
reporting, accounting and auditing, and in management as a senior
executive of a public healthcare company during a period of
Submitted protocol to European regulatory authorities for initiation
of human clinical trials of Renevia as a medical device for
the delivery of adipose stem cells for reconstructive surgery. The
initiation of human clinical studies is expected this year subject to
approval of the protocol.
Raised cash proceeds of $16.4 million since January 2013 through the
sale of common shares by BioTime and certain subsidiaries, including
$13.4 million in the first quarter of 2013 and $3 million on April 10,
Net loss attributable to BioTime, Inc. for the first quarter of 2013 was
$7.7 million or $0.15 per share, compared to a net loss of $5.0 million
or $0.10 per share for the same period of 2012.
Contributing to the increased expenses year-over-year was approximately
$1 million in organization, legal, and start up costs associated with
Asterias. The other subsidiaries combined for approximately $4 million
of other operating losses, with the balance of the operating loss of
approximately $3 million residing in BioTime. Historically BioTime's
subsidiaries have raised capital, received grants, and generated
revenues independently of BioTime to help fund their operations; we
expect the subsidiaries to continue to pursue such financing strategies
Total net revenue, including license fees (which also include online
database subscription and advertising revenues), royalties from sales of
Hextend , research product sales, and grant income, on a
consolidated basis, was $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2013, down
$0.2 million from $0.6 million for the same period of 2012. The decrease
in revenue year-over-year in the first quarter 2013 is primarily
attributable to lower grant revenue related to the completion of
BioTime's research grant from the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine ("CIRM") in August 2012, partially offset by subscription and
advertising revenues from LifeMap Science's online database GeneCards
which LifeMap Sciences began marketing in May of 2012.
Total expense for the first quarter of 2013 was $8.8 million, compared
to a total expense of $6.5 million for the first quarter 2012. Operating
expenses increased $2.3 million year-over-year in the first quarter 2013
due to increased expenses related to the amortization of patent
technology from our previous acquisitions, employee compensation and
headcount-related costs, audit and tax service fees, patent-related and
general legal fees, licenses, patent and trademark related fees,
expenses related to our increased efforts in the ReneviaTM