SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - January 17, 2011) - Medistem Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MEDS) announced today that Dr. Michael Murphy, a vascular surgeon from Indiana University, will be presenting new data on the company’s universal donor Endometrial Regenerative Cell (ERC) product. Dr. Murphy will be speaking at the Sixth International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease in New York, which will take place Jan 20 and 21 and is sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.
“It is an honor for us to have Dr. Michael Murphy, who has already performed several FDA trials in the area of stem cell therapy for critical limb ischemia, to present experimental progress made towards satisfying the concerns of regulators,” said Thomas Ichim, CEO of Medistem.
Medistem received notice from the FDA in 2009 that it requires additional animal data before granting approval for its IND application covering use of ERC to treat critical limb ischemia. The requested experiments have been largely completed with support of a federal SBIR grant. Medistem plans to submit a response to the FDA within the first Quarter of 2011. Additionally, Medistem together with a corporate partner have submitted a “Phase II” SBIR grant which will potentially cover costs of the anticipated trial.
“Dr. Murphy’s commitment to the ERC by agreeing to act as Principle Investigator in front of the FDA for the proposed trial was a significant factor in our decision to acquire a controlling interest in Medistem,” said Dr. Vladimir Bogin, Chairman and President of Medistem. “Given that Dr. Murphy has already used stem cells in the US to treat patients with our target disease, we are confident his skills and expertise will add substantial value to commercial development of our new stem cell. Here is a link to a news story describing some of Dr. Murphy’s previous stem cell work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAY616Z3Vrk.”
On December 7th, 2010, Medistem announced that Dr. Sergey Sablin, co-founder of the NASDAQ company Medivation, together with Dr. Bogin and Vladimir Zaharchook purchased controlling interest of the company from a prior shareholder.
“To my knowledge the ERC appears to possess many advantages to current-day stem cell therapies. Specifically, these cells can be economically mass-manufactured, administered without the need for complex procedures, and appear to have a high level of efficacy based on laboratory experiments,” said Dr. Murphy. “Collaborators from outside of the US have already published in the peer-reviewed literature compassionate-use outcomes of small numbers of patients treated with ERC. We believe the data presented at the upcoming conference will substantially augment our existing wealth of knowledge on these cells, and hopefully accelerate their development as a ‘stem cell drug’ to address critical limb ischemia.”
ERC can be purchased for research use through the company General Biotechnology LLC at the website http://www.gnrlbiotech.com/?page=catalog_endometrial_regenerative_cells
About Medistem Inc.
Medistem Inc. is a biotechnology company developing technologies related to adult stem cell extraction, manipulation, and use for treating inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The company’s lead product, the endometrial regenerative cell (ERC), is a “universal donor” stem cell being developed for critical limb ischemia. A publication describing the support for use of ERC for this condition may be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-6-45.pdf. ERC can be purchased for scientific use through Medistem’s collaborator, General Biotechnology http://www.gnrlbiotech.com/?page=catalog_endometrial_regenerative_cells.
Cautionary Statement
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of our securities. This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking information. Factors which may cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements are discussed in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Vladimir Bogin, MD
Chairman of the Board
Medistem Inc.
9255 Towne Centre Drive
Suite 450
San Diego
CA 92122
858 349 3617
858 642 0027
www.medisteminc.com
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