Full Press Release Details
Demonstrated Effective when Formulated with Human Heart Cells and
Transplanted in an Animal Model of Heart Disease
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2012--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:
BTX) announced today the publication of a scientific paper demonstrating
the effectiveness of HyStem -C in the
transplantation of heart muscle-derived cells in an animal model of
heart disease. The paper, "Functional performance of human
cardiosphere-derived cells delivered in an in situ polymerizable
hyaluronan-gelatin hydrogel," is published online (ahead of print) in
the peer-reviewed journal Biomaterials. The report demonstrates
that the survival of human heart-derived cells is markedly improved when
the cells are formulated in HyStem -C, a product
being developed by BioTime under the trade name ReneviaTM
as a cell delivery device.
In today's publication, human heart-derived cells were transplanted into
the hearts of mice around the time of injury in an animal heart attack
model. When transplanted without matrix, the heart cells fared poorly,
as is commonly observed in the absence of such support. However, when
the cells were transplanted with HyStem -C there
was a significant increase in the number of surviving transplanted cells.
Another significant finding reported in the study is that
transplantation of the cells with HyStem -C into
the injured heart muscle resulted in an increase in left ventricular
ejection fraction (LVEF), a measure of the ability of the cells to
restore strength to the damaged heart wall.
The lead author on the paper is Ke Cheng of the Cedars-Sinai Heart
Institute in Los Angeles, California. Other authors from Cedars-Sinai
are Deliang Shen, Baiming Sun, Giselle Galang, and Eduardo Marb n.
Authors from Capricor, Inc. of Los Angeles, California are Agnieszka
Blusztajn, Rachel R. Smith, and Linda Marb n. Additional authors are
Tao-Sheng Li from the Department of Stem Cell Biology at Nagasaki
University Graduate School of Biomedical Science in Nagasaki, Japan;
Glenn D. Prestwich from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Center
for Therapeutic Biomaterials at the University of Utah in Salt Lake
City; and BioTime author Thomas I. Zarembinski.
"Heart disease remains the number one cause of mortality in the United
States," said William Tew, Ph.D., BioTime's Chief Commercial Officer.
"We are gratified to see the utility of our HyStem
technology in the field of cardiology as it has been previously reported
in neurology and orthopedics. We see the development of these unique
matrices as a strategic means of capturing near-term commercial
opportunities while building a foundation for a large pipeline of
transplantable human cells derived from pluripotent stem cells such as
human embryonic stem and induced pluripotent stem cells."
BioTime's goal is to obtain approval to market Renevia
in European Union countries by the end of 2013 for use in the
transplantation of adipose tissue for reconstructive and dermatological
surgery. A discussion of this use of ReneviaTM in a
presentation by Dr. Tew, which also describes BioTime's other plans for
its HyStem line of products, is available online
BioTime is a leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing
proprietary biocompatible hydrogels that mimic the human extracellular
matrix (ECM). The human ECM is a web of molecules surrounding cells that
is essential to the formation, function, and growth of discrete tissues
and organs in the body. BioTime's HyStem hydrogels
support the growth and directed differentiation of stem cells by
mimicking the ECM, and are designed as injectable, resorbable matrices
for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and for research
applications involving the laboratory culture of human cells. Uses of
BioTime's HyStem technology has been reported on
in over 90 scholarly publications and is presently being used at several
leading medical institutions investigating potential cell-based
therapies for osteoarthritis, myocardial infarction, stroke, brain
tumors, and wound healing. HyStem offers a
convenient delivery matrix and its in situ polymerization creates
a biocompatible, resorbable scaffold for cell proliferation and tissue
BioTime, headquartered in Alameda, California, is a biotechnology
company focused on regenerative medicine and blood plasma volume
expanders. Its broad platform of stem cell technologies is developed
through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of applications. BioTime
develops and markets research products in the field of stem cells and
regenerative medicine, including a wide array of proprietary
ACTCellerate cell lines, HyStem hydrogels,
culture media, and differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia
(formerly known as HyStem -Rx),
a biocompatible, implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for
cell delivery in human clinical applications. As an injectable product, Renevia
may address an immediate need in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries
and other procedures by improving the process of transplanting adipose
derived cells, mesenchymal stem cells, or other adult stem cells.
BioTime's wholly owned subsidiary ES Cell International Pte. Ltd. has
produced clinical-grade human embryonic stem cell lines that were
derived following principles of Good Manufacturing Practice and
currently offers them for use in research. BioTime's therapeutic product
development strategy is pursued through subsidiaries that focus on
specific organ systems and related diseases for which there is a high
unmet medical need. BioTime's majority owned subsidiary Cell Cure
Neurosciences, Ltd. is developing therapeutic products derived from stem
cells for the treatment of retinal and neural degenerative diseases.
Cell Cure's minority shareholder Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has an
option to clinically develop and commercialize Cell Cure's OpRegen
retinal cell product for use in the treatment of age-related macular
degeneration. BioTime's subsidiary OrthoCyte Corporation is developing
therapeutic applications of stem cells to treat orthopedic diseases and
injuries. Another subsidiary, OncoCyte Corporation, focuses on the
diagnostic and therapeutic applications of stem cell technology in
cancer, including the diagnostic product PanC-DxTM
currently being developed for the detection of cancer in blood samples,
and therapeutic strategies using vascular progenitor cells engineered to