Amarantus Completes Acquisition of ESS From Lonza for the Treatment of Severe Burns
July 15 2015 - 7:05AM
Amarantus BioScience Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX:AMBS), a biotechnology
company focused on developing therapeutic and diagnostic products
for diseases in the areas of neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology
and regenerative medicine, announced that it has completed the
acquisition of Cutanogen Corporation ("Cutanogen") from Lonza
Walkersville, Inc. ("Lonza"), a subsidiary of Lonza Group Ltd.
Cutanogen has an exclusive worldwide license to intellectual
property rights associated with Engineered Skin Substitute ("ESS"),
an autologous full thickness skin replacement product in
development for the treatment of severe burns. ESS has received
orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
for the treatment of hospitalized patients with deep partial and
full thickness burns requiring grafting. With this agreement,
Amarantus has engaged Lonza via a long-term services agreement to
manufacture ESS under Good Manufacturing Practices for human
clinical trials, and subsequent commercial distribution.
"The completion of the acquisition of Cutanogen from Lonza
represents a cornerstone of Amarantus' therapeutics acquisition
strategy as the company prepares for its upcoming listing on a
national exchange," said Gerald E. Commissiong, President & CEO
of Amarantus. "ESS is a potentially revolutionary solution for the
treatment of severe burns that has demonstrated initial human
proof-of-concept in an investigator-initiated setting. Going
forward, Amarantus plans to take this program through a stringent
corporate-sponsored regulatory development program under an already
open IND with the FDA, to gain marketing approval, initially for
the treatment of severe burns in the United States. The company
intends to work closely with US regulatory authorities under the
orphan drug designation pathway to achieve this objective."
Details regarding the financial components of the transaction
are available on Form 8-K filed with the Securities Exchange
Commission ("SEC") and may be accessed on the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov.
Maxim Group, LLC served as M&A advisor to Amarantus on the
transaction.
About Engineered Skin Substitute (ESS)
Engineered Skin Substitute (ESS) is a tissue-engineered skin
prepared from autologous (patient's own) skin cells. It is a
combination of cultured epithelium with a collagen-fibroblast
implant that produces a skin substitute that contains both
epidermal and dermal components. This model has been shown in
preclinical studies to generate a functional skin barrier. Most
importantly, self-to-self skin grafts for autologous skin tissue
are less likely to be rejected by the immune system of the patient,
unlike with porcine or cadaver grafts in which immune system
rejection is a possibility. ESS has been used in an investigator
initiated clinical setting in over 130 human subjects, primarily
pediatric patients, for the treatment of severe burns up to 95%
total body surface area.
About Amarantus BioScience Holdings, Inc.
Amarantus BioScience Holdings (AMBS) is a biotechnology company
developing treatments and diagnostics for diseases in the areas of
neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology and regenerative medicine.
AMBS' Therapeutics division has development rights to eltoprazine,
a Phase 2b small molecule indicated for Parkinson's disease
levodopa-induced dyskinesia, adult ADHD and Alzheimer's aggression,
an exclusive worldwide license to intellectual property rights
associated with Engineered Skin Substitute ("ESS"), an autologous
full thickness skin replacement product in development for the
treatment of severe burns and owns the intellectual property rights
to a therapeutic protein known as mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived
neurotrophic factor (MANF) and is developing MANF-based products as
treatments for brain and ophthalmic disorders. AMBS' Diagnostics
division owns the rights to MSPrecise®, a proprietary
next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) assay for the identification
of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) at
first clinical presentation, has an exclusive worldwide license to
the Lymphocyte Proliferation test (LymPro Test®) for Alzheimer's
disease, which was developed by Prof. Thomas Arendt, Ph.D., from
the University of Leipzig, and owns intellectual property for the
diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (NuroPro). AMBS also owns the
discovery of neurotrophic factors (PhenoGuard™) that led to MANF's
discovery.
For further information please visit www.Amarantus.com, or
connect with the Company on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and
Google+.
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Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC
Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Advisor
T: (US) 908.938.1475
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