Full Press Release Details
Reports Isolation of Novel Brain-Associated Cells From Human Embryonic
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 20, 2013--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE
MKT: BTX), a biotechnology company that develops and markets products in
the field of regenerative medicine reported today the publication of a
peer-reviewed scientific paper on the successful generation of human
cells with markers of particular cell types in the human brain,
potentially useful in the treatment of neurological diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease. The paper published online (ahead of print) in the
journal Regenerative Medicine, characterizes the cells generated
from human embryonic stem cells using BioTime's proprietary PureStem
technology. The study reports that the new cell lines show the potential
to become cartilage and bone as well as brain-associated cells such as
membranes surrounding the brain called meninges and choroid plexus (the
structure in the brain that creates cerebrospinal fluid). These novel
expandable and highly purified progenitors have properties that may have
a wide array of future applications in the practice of orthopedics and
In the study titled "Human embryonic stem cell-derived neural crest
cells capable of expressing markers of osteochondral or
meningeal-choroid plexus differentiation," BioTime scientists published
for the first time the unique properties of two cell lines designated
E69 and T42 made using the company's PureStem technology. PureStem
allows the scalable expansion of large numbers of desired cell types
starting with human embryonic stem cells. The PureStem cell
lines have the advantage that they have partially committed to become
one of the many tissues of the body. An additional competitive feature
of PureStem relates to the relative ease of producing large
quantities of these cells in a highly purified and identified state,
potentially leading to improved quality control. The company has
produced >200 diverse progenitors of the human body using this
technology. The cells described in today's scientific publication are
progenitors to tissues of the developing head called "neural crest"
cells. BioTime scientists demonstrated in the publication that the cells
could be induced to become diverse brain-associated cells by altering
the exposure of the cells to specific growth factors. The company has
filed for certain patent protection relating to the cells and the
methods described in the publication.
BioTime from time to time publishes scientific discoveries, such as
those reported today in Regenerative Medicine, to accelerate the
pace of research and discovery for devastating diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease, and to increase awareness of the cell lines in the
medical research markets. BioTime's subsidiary ES Cell International
offers the cell lines for sale for research use only.
"To our knowledge, this is the first report of the isolation of these
important cell types," said Michael D. West, Ph.D., BioTime's Chief
Executive Officer. "The purity and scalability of the cells makes it an
easy matter for us to distribute them to the research markets. To date,
we have published data in the scientific literature relating to 10 of
the >200 cell types we have isolated from pluripotent stem cells. We
plan to continue to publish on additional cell types in the future."
Authors of today's publication included Hal Sternberg, Jianjie Jiang,
Pamela Sim, and Michael D. West of BioTime; Francois Binette of
OrthoCyte Corporation; Ariel Rinon, Ron Edgar, and Alina Shitrit of
LifeMap Sciences; David Larocca of ReCyte Therapeutics; Jennifer Kidd
and Karen B. Chapman of OncoCyte Corporation; and Jeffrey Janus of ES
Cell International. Additional information on PureStem
technology presented by BioTime's CEO, Dr. Michael West, is available on
BioTime's web site in its video update series.
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. 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
CheilJedang 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
OncoCyte Corporation is developing products and technologies to
diagnose and treat cancer.
Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. ("Cell Cure Neurosciences") 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.
LifeMap Sciences, Inc. ("LifeMap Sciences") 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 database.
ES Cell International Pte Ltd., a Singapore private limited company,
developed clinical and research grade hES cell lines and plans to
market those cell lines and other BioTime research products in
over-seas markets as part of BioTime's ESI BIO Division.
BioTime Asia, Limited, a Hong Kong company, may offer and sell