Guildford, UK, 11 June 2008: ReNeuron Group plc (LSE: RENE.L) today announces that it will be presenting at the 6th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the leading international stem cell conference taking place on 11-14 June at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadephia, USA.
A poster presentation at the conference describes the in vitro characterisation of ReNeuron’s ReN001 stem cell line for stroke, the world’s first clonal neural stem cell line developed to meet the therapeutic needs of a major neurological condition such as stroke. The poster describes the ability of the ReN001 cells to expand without loss of phenotypic stability or other biological characteristics throughout a full cGMP manufacturing process at a scale necessary to support clinical development and subsequent commercial scale production.
Separately, ReNeuron is participating in a commercial tutorial at the conference regarding its ReNcell®CX and ReNcell®VM neural cell lines for non-therapeutic applications. Millipore Corporation, who distribute the ReNcell® lines worldwide under licence from ReNeuron, are also participating in this tutorial. The tutorial will describe the characterisation, differentiation and physiology of these cell lines, demonstrating their suitability for a wide range of applications in both basic stem cell biology and neuroscience as well as applied drug-discovery.
More information about the conference may be found at www.isscr.org/meetings.
Enquiries:
ReNeuron
Michael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer; Tel: +44 (0) 1483 302560
Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer
Financial Dynamics
Europe
David Yates; Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113
Lara Mott
US
Robert Stanislaro; Tel : +1 212 850 5657
About ReNeuron
ReNeuron is a leading, UK-based stem cell therapy business. It is applying its novel stem cell platform technologies in the development of ground-breaking stem cell therapies to serve significant and unmet or poorly-met clinical needs.
ReNeuron has used its proprietary, patented cell expansion technology to generate genetically stable neural stem cell lines. This technology platform has multi-national patent protection and is fully regulated by means of a chemically-induced safety switch. Cell growth can therefore be completely arrested prior to in vivo implantation. ReNeuron’s clinically-tested cell encapsulation technology provides a method of protecting cells when transplanted, as well as reducing or eliminating the host immune response that might otherwise occur post-transplantation.
ReNeuron has filed for approval to commence initial clinical studies with its lead ReN001 stem cell therapy for chronic stroke disability. There are an estimated 50 million stroke survivors worldwide, approximately one half of which are left with permanent disabilities. The annual health and social costs of caring for these patients is estimated to be in excess of £5 billion in the UK and in excess of US$50 billion in the US. In addition to its stroke programme, ReNeuron is developing stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Type 1 diabetes and diseases of the retina.
ReNeuron has also leveraged its stem cell technologies into non-therapeutic areas – its ReNcell® range of cell lines for use in research and in drug discovery applications in the pharmaceutical industry. ReNeuron’s ReNcell®CX and ReNcell®VM neural cell lines are marketed worldwide under license by Millipore Corporation.
ReNeuron’s shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com.
Data sources: UK Stroke Association; American Stroke Association.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance of ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuron with respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as “should”, “expects”, “estimates”, “believes” or similar expressions. This announcement also contains forward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to their estimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect ReNeuron’s current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of factors could cause ReNeuron’s actual financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or implied in such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not be placed on such statements.
