BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BTX) announced that its Board of
Directors has appointed Deborah Andrews and David Schlachet to the
Board of Directors.
David Schlachet serves as a director of several public and
private companies. Mr. Schlachet is the former Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Syneron Medical Ltd., an Israeli aesthetic
medical device company, and he has served as a director of the Tel
Aviv Stock Exchange. Mr. Schlachet’s career also includes other
senior executive management positions in the food industry, in
venture capital, and in science and research, including serving as
Vice President of Finance and Administration of the Weizmann
Institute of Science, Israel’s premier post-graduate scientific
research institute, and as Chief Executive Officer of its
technology transfer company Yeda Research and Development Company,
Ltd. Mr. Schlachet also serves as Chairman of the Board of
BioTime’s subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.
Deborah Andrews, who will join the BioTime Audit Committee, is
Vice President-Chief Accounting Officer of STAAR Surgical Company,
a leading ophthalmic device company. Ms. Andrews joined STAAR in
1995 and served in positions of increasing responsibility over the
next eighteen years, first as Assistant Controller, then as Vice
President-International Finance, then as Global Controller and then
as Vice President-Chief Financial Officer from 2005 until 2013.
Following her appointment as CFO in 2005, Ms. Andrews was a member
of the senior executive team that successfully led the
transformation of STAAR into a rapidly growing, profitable, and
financially strong industry leader. Early in her career, Ms.
Andrews served as a senior accountant and auditor for KPMG Peat
Marwick, a major public accounting firm.
The appointment of David Schlachet and Deborah Andrews to the
BioTime Board of Directors fills two vacancies created by the
resignations of Henry L. Nordhoff and Andrew von Eschenbach last
week. Mr. Nordhoff and Dr. von Eschenbach subsequently resigned
from the Board of Directors of BioTime’s subsidiary Asterias
Biotherapeutics, Inc. (“Asterias”).
In addition, Michael D. West, who is BioTime’s Chief Executive
Officer and a member of its Board of Directors, has replaced Thomas
Okarma as President and Chief Executive Officer of Asterias. Dr.
West will work with Asterias management and its Board of Directors
to better align the company’s expenditures with available capital
resources, and will continue to explore synergistic opportunities
at Asterias and BioTime that may advance product development in a
cost effective manner.
Dr. West had been Asterias’ Vice President of Technology
Integration, in which position he focused on opportunities to
improve efficiencies in Asterias and BioTime product development
programs through coordination of the companies’ respective
technologies. The first steps in this approach were taken in the
original contribution of assets to Asterias, in which BioTime
provided Asterias with quantities of certain human embryonic stem
cells developed by BioTime’s subsidiary ES Cell International Pte
Ltd (“ESI”) under current good manufacturing practices (cGMP), and
nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use certain ESI
patents pertaining to stem cell differentiation technology.
Asterias scientists are already considering ways to integrate the
use of the ESI cell lines into Asterias’ product development
programs.
BioTime subsequently entered into a material transfer agreement
with Asterias under which BioTime provided Asterias with the right
to use BioTime’s HyStem® hydrogel formulations which Asterias is
using in some of its research and development programs. Asterias
was also given an option to negotiate a non-exclusive sub-license
to use those hydrogels in neurological, cardiovascular and
orthopedic human cell therapy applications. Insight that BioTime
has gained from its leading PureStem® technology might help
Asterias improve the purity and efficiency of production of the hES
derived progenitor cells that it may use in some of its product
development programs.
As industry leaders in regenerative medicine, BioTime and its
subsidiaries have assembled a broad array of strategically
important stem cell technologies and assets for the development of
therapeutic and diagnostic products. With over 400 patents and
patent applications owned or licensed worldwide, Asterias is an
intellectual property leader with numerous foundational patents,
and in total, the BioTime family of companies owns or has licensed
over 600 key patents and patent applications.
“We remain committed to Asterias and to building shareholder
value with its industry leading technologies and with prudent
financial management,” said Michael D. West, Asterias’ new Chief
Executive Officer. “We also welcome our new shareholders who will
receive Asterias Series A common stock when Geron Corporation
completes its distribution of those shares to its stockholders.
Asterias’ management is continuing to evaluate the opportunities
for Asterias’ stem cell assets in order to select the best paths
for the advancement of its key product programs, including paths
that can be followed with Asterias’ current financial assets and
those that would be open to us if Asterias were to obtain the
funding it is seeking in the form of research grants, cooperative
development arrangements, and new equity capital,” Dr. West
concluded.
In other changes at Asterias, BioTime elected Richard LeBuhn,
Robert W. Peabody, and Judith Segall to join the Asterias Board of
Directors.
Richard LeBuhn is Senior Vice President of Broadwood Capital,
Inc., the investment manager of Broadwood Partners, L.P., a private
investment fund. Mr. LeBuhn previously was Principal of Broadfield
Capital Management, LLC, a private investment firm, and has held
senior management positions with other private investment and
financial advisory firms.
Mr. Peabody is Asterias’ Chief Financial Officer and is Senior
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
of BioTime. Judith Segall is Vice President of Administration and
Secretary of BioTime and is a long-standing member of its Board of
Directors.
About BioTime
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. 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
CheilJedang 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 a new subsidiary which has
acquired the stem cell assets of Geron Corporation, including
patents and other intellectual property, biological materials,
reagents and equipment for the development of new therapeutic
products for regenerative medicine.
• OncoCyte Corporation is developing products and technologies
to diagnose and treat cancer.
• Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd. (“Cell Cure Neurosciences”) 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, and treatments for multiple
sclerosis.
• LifeMap Sciences, Inc. (“LifeMap Sciences”) markets, sells and
distributes GeneCards®, the leading human gene database, as part of
an integrated database suite that also includes the LifeMap
Discovery® database of embryonic development, stem cell research
and regenerative medicine, and MalaCards, the human disease
database.
• ES Cell International Pte Ltd., a Singapore private limited
company, developed clinical and research grade hES cell lines and
plans to market those cell lines and other BioTime research
products in over-seas markets as part of BioTime’s ESI BIO
Division.
• BioTime Asia, Limited, a Hong Kong company, may offer and sell
products for research use for BioTime’s ESI BIO Division.
• OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapies to treat
orthopedic disorders, diseases and injuries.
• ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. is developing therapies to treat a
variety of cardiovascular and related ischemic disorders, as well
as products for research using cell reprogramming technology.
Additional information about BioTime can be found on the web at
www.biotimeinc.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating
results, future growth in research, technology, clinical
development, and potential opportunities for BioTime and its
subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future
expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by
management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements
that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to
statements that contain words such as “will,” “believes,” “plans,”
“anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates”) should also be considered to
be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks
inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential
products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or
regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital,
and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may
differ materially from the results anticipated in these
forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together
with the many uncertainties that affect the business of BioTime and
its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary
statements found in BioTime's and Asterias’ Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. BioTime disclaims any intent or obligation to
update these forward-looking statements.
To receive ongoing BioTime corporate communications, please
click on the following link to join our email alert list:
http://news.biotimeinc.com
BioTime, Inc.Judith Segall, 510-521-3390, ext
301jsegall@biotimemail.com
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