Athersys, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHX) announced today that it has joined the
broad-market Russell 3000® Index as of the conclusion of the
Russell U.S. Indices annual reconstitution, which became effective
after the U.S. market opened on June 27, 2016. The preliminary list
of additions was posted by FTSE Russell earlier this month.
Annual reconstitution of the Russell U.S.
indices captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May
2016, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in
the U.S. all-cap Russell 3000® Index, which remains in place for
one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000®
Index or small-cap Russell 2000® Index, as well as the appropriate
growth and value style indices. FTSE Russell determines membership
for its Russell indices by objective, market-capitalization
rankings and style attributes.
“We are pleased to be included in the Russell
3000 and Russell 2000 Indices, as it represents an important
milestone that should translate to even greater institutional
ownership and awareness among funds that benchmark against them,”
commented Gil Van Bokkelen, Chairman & CEO of Athersys.
“This should also provide benefits to our shareholders in terms of
increased liquidity and greater visibility among these types of
institutional funds. Furthermore, it reflects the important
progress we are making in multiple areas, as we continue working
toward our goals of developing safe and effective new medicines for
patients suffering from a stroke or experiencing other areas of
substantial unmet medical need, and becoming a leading
biopharmaceutical company.”
“Working with our partner, HEALIOS K.K., we
continue to make good progress on preparing the submission of the
J-IND for the upcoming stroke clinical trial in Japan, and as we
have described previously, we expect to initiate the trial later
this year,” commented Dr. Van Bokkelen. “The new regulatory
framework in Japan allows for either Conditional Approval or Full
Approval of appropriately qualified regenerative medicine therapies
that demonstrate both safety and efficacy upon the completion of
the study, and fulfill the other rigorous regulatory requirements
implemented by PMDA. Furthermore, in addition to our ongoing
activities in Japan, we have also had very productive discussions
with the FDA about the potential development path for the stroke
program and will continue to work with regulators to finalize our
approach.”
Indices provided by FTSE Russell, a leading
global index provider, are widely used by investment managers and
institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for
active investment strategies. Approximately $6 trillion in assets
are benchmarked against the Russell U.S. indices.
For more information on the Russell 3000® Index
and the Russell U.S. Indices reconstitution, go to the “Russell
Reconstitution” section on the FTSE Russell website.
About Athersys
Athersys is an international biotechnology
company engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutic
product candidates designed to extend and enhance the quality of
human life. The Company is developing its MultiStem® cell therapy
product, a patented, adult-derived "off-the-shelf" stem cell
product, initially for disease indications in the cardiovascular,
neurological, inflammatory and immune disease areas, and has
several ongoing clinical trials evaluating this potential
regenerative medicine product. Athersys has forged strategic
partnerships and collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies, as well as world-renowned research
institutions to further develop its platform and products. More
information is available at www.athersys.com.
About FTSE Russell
FTSE Russell is a global index leader and data
provider that provides innovative benchmarking, analytics and data
solutions for investors worldwide. FTSE Russell calculates
thousands of indices that measure and benchmark markets and asset
classes in more than 70 countries, covering 98% of the investable
market, globally.
FTSE Russell index expertise and products are
used extensively by institutional and retail investors, globally.
Approximately $10 trillion is currently benchmarked to FTSE Russell
indices. For over 30 years, leading asset owners, asset managers,
ETF providers and investment banks have chosen FTSE Russell indices
to benchmark their investment performance and create ETFs,
structured products and index-based derivatives.
A core set of universal principles guides FTSE
Russell index design and management: a transparent rules-based
methodology is informed by independent committees of leading market
participants. FTSE Russell is focused on applying the highest
industry standards in index design and governance, and embraces the
IOSCO principles. FTSE Russell is also focused on index innovation
and client collaboration as it seeks to enhance the breadth, depth
and reach of its offering.
FTSE Russell is wholly-owned by London Stock
Exchange Group. For more information, visit www.ftserussell.com.
Forward-Looking Statements This
press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking
statements relate to, among other things, the expected timetable
for development of our product candidates, our growth strategy, and
our future financial performance, including our operations,
economic performance, financial condition, prospects, and other
future events. We have attempted to identify forward-looking
statements by using such words as "anticipates," "believes," "can,"
"continue," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may,"
"plans," "potential," "should," “suggest,” "will," or other similar
expressions. These forward-looking statements are only predictions
and are largely based on our current expectations. A number of
known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could
affect the accuracy of these statements. Some of the more
significant known risks that we face that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those implied by forward-looking
statements are the risks and uncertainties inherent in the process
of discovering, developing, and commercializing products that are
safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, such as the
uncertainty regarding market acceptance of our product candidates
and our ability to generate revenues, including MultiStem for the
treatment of ischemic stroke, acute myocardial infarction, spinal
cord injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome and other
disease indications, including graft-versus-host disease. These
risks may cause our actual results, levels of activity,
performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future
results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed
or implied by these forward-looking statements. Other important
factors to consider in evaluating our forward-looking statements
include: the success of our collaboration with Healios, our
possible inability to realize commercially valuable discoveries in
our collaborations with pharmaceutical and other biotechnology
companies; the success of our collaborations, including our ability
to reach milestones and receive milestone payments, including in
connection with our collaboration with Healios, and whether any
products are successfully developed and sold so that we earn
royalty payments; our collaborators' ability to continue to fulfill
their obligations under the terms of our collaboration agreements;
the success of our efforts to enter into new strategic partnerships
or collaborations and advance our programs; our ability to raise
additional capital; results from our MultiStem clinical trials; the
possibility of delays in, adverse results of, and excessive costs
of the development process; our ability to successfully initiate
and complete clinical trials; changes in external market factors;
changes in our industry's overall performance; changes in our
business strategy; our ability to protect our intellectual property
portfolio; our possible inability to execute our strategy due to
changes in our industry or the economy generally; changes in
productivity and reliability of suppliers; and the success of our
competitors and the emergence of new competitors. You should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in
this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly
update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
William (B.J.) Lehmann, J.D.
President and Chief Operating Officer
Tel: (216) 431-9900
bjlehmann@athersys.com
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