Full Press Release Details
Subsidiary Asterias Biotherapeutics Raises $13.0 Million in Equity
infusion provides funding to advance Asterias' therapeutic programs
strengthens Asterias' cash position
ALAMEDA, Calif. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17,
2014--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BTX) announced today that its subsidiary
Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. ("Asterias"), has raised $12.5 million
through the sale of 5,000,000 BioTime common shares held by Asterias and
the issuance of warrants to purchase 5,000,000 shares of Asterias Series
B Common Stock. The majority of the funds raised through this privately
negotiated transaction will be used to finance Asterias' product
development programs, including AST-OPC1 for the treatment of spinal
cord injury, and AST-VAC2, which is being developed as an immunotherapy
for non-small cell lung cancer. The investors included BioTime's largest
shareholder and a trust established by another long-term BioTime
shareholder. In addition, as reported earlier today, Pedro Lichtinger,
Asterias' President and Chief Executive Officer, has invested $0.5
million directly into Asterias through the purchase of 200,000 shares of
Asterias Series B Common Stock.
The investors purchased 5,000,000 BioTime common shares from Asterias at
a price of $2.50 per share. The investors have agreed not to offer or
sell any of those shares for a period of 275 days. The financing is the
result of negotiations that began in mid-May. The weighted average price
of BioTime common stock for the 20 day period prior to the sale was
$2.80. The investors also received from Asterias warrants, expiring in
one year, to purchase 5,000,000 shares of Asterias Series B common stock
at an exercise price of $2.34 per share. If the warrants are exercised
in full, then Asterias will receive an additional $11,700,000.
"This stock sale, when combined with a recent $14.3 million research and
development grant approved by the California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine for the clinical development of AST-OPC1, substantially
increases the funding available for Asterias' development of its lead
product candidates for treatment of patients with serious unmet medical
needs," said Mr. Lichtinger. "We thank our investors for their support
as we pursue our goal of delivering innovative treatments that may
extend the lives or improve the quality of life for a great many
patients for whom there are presently no effective alternative
Asterias Biotherapeutics 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 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 seek FDA clearance 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 blood.
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 and orthopedics.
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 developing pluripotent
stem-cell based therapies in neurology and oncology, including
AST-OPC1 oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in spinal cord injury,
multiple sclerosis and stroke, and AST-VAC2, an allogeneic dendritic
cell-based cancer vaccine.
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,