CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arteriocyte, a clinical stage biotechnology company announced today the receipt of a fast track Phase I/II Small Business Innovation Research Grant Award (R44HL092706-01) from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant award, is the first installment of the combined $2.5 million grant from the NIH to clinically evaluate the therapeutic feasibility of treating Critical Limb Ischemia with the company’s expanded human umbilical cord blood derived stem cell therapy (ALO212) using Arteriocyte’s proprietary NANEX cell expansion technology. The company’s NANEX technology provides for a rapid ex-vivo culturing of hemangioblasts, an early progenitor cell shown to have potential in improving perfusion in ischemic tissues. The NIH award represents an important step in the company’s commercialization of ALO212, its second stem cell pipeline product candidate, transitioning to clinical stage evaluation. The balance of the funding from the NHLBI is expected to be awarded, contingent on successful completion of the Phase I work.
