BOTHELL, Wash., Sept. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BioLife
Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLFS), the leading developer, manufacturer
and marketer of proprietary clinical grade cell and tissue
hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media ("BioLife"),
announced that Cellular Biomedicine Group (NASDAQ: CBMG), a leading
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm engaged in the development of
immunotherapies for cancer and stem cell therapies for degenerative
diseases ("CBMG"), has validated BioLife's proprietary CryoStor
freeze media for use in CBMG's planned US Phase I clinical trial of
AlloJoin, an off the shelf allogeneic stem cell therapy for knee
osteoarthritis.
Mike Rice, BioLife President
& CEO, commented, "We are very pleased to support CBMG in their
development and potential commercialization of AlloJoin. CBMG is
the leading regenerative medicine company in China, with a robust clinical pipeline and
high-quality, scalable manufacturing facilities."
In addition to this product adoption by CBMG, CryoStor and
HypoThermosol®, BioLife's companion cell storage and
shipping media, have been used in at least 250 regenerative
medicine applications, including several late-stage clinical
trials. BioLife's customer base has grown to over 2,000 companies,
universities and clinical centers in the regenerative medicine,
drug discovery and biobanking markets.
Tony Liu, Chief Executive Officer
of CBMG, remarked, "We constantly strive to attain the very highest
level of quality in our manufacturing processes for engineered
cells intended for human clinical use. This includes the
qualification and selection of the most-effective and
highest-quality biopreservation tools. Maximizing yield and shelf
life of source material and manufactured cellular therapies is a
top priority, since these attributes greatly impact therapeutic
efficacy. CryoStor offers many performance and regulatory
advantages over the previous home-brew freeze media we were
evaluating."
About Knee Osteoarthritis
According to the Foundation for the National Institutes of
Health, there are 27 million Americans with Osteoarthritis (OA),
and symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) occurs in 13% of persons
aged 60 and older. The International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases,
2011 reports that approximately 57 million people in China suffer from KOA. Currently no treatment
exists that can effectively preserve knee joint cartilage or slow
the progression of KOA. Current common drug-based methods of
management, including anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), only
relieve symptoms and carry the risk of side effects. Patients with
KOA suffer from compromised mobility, leading to sedentary
lifestyles; doubling the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,
and obesity; and increasing the risk of all causes of mortality,
colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders,
depression and anxiety. According to the Epidemiology of Rheumatic
Disease (Silman AJ, Hochberg MC. Oxford Univ. Press,
1993:257), 53% of patients with KOA will eventually become
disabled.
About Cellular Biomedicine Group
Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBMG) develops
proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and
degenerative diseases. The company conducts immuno-oncology and
stem cell clinical trials in China
using products from its integrated GMP laboratory. CBMG has GMP
facilities in China, consisting of
twelve independent cell production lines, all designed and managed
according to both China and U.S.
GMP standards. CBMG recently commenced two Phase I human clinical
trials in China using CAR-T to
treat relapsed/refractory CD19+ B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
(ALL) and Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) as well
as an ongoing Phase I trial in China for AlloJoinTM (CBMG's
"Off-the-Shelf" Allogeneic Human Adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stem
Cell) for the treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA). CBMG was also
recently awarded $2.29 million from
the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to
support pre-clinical studies of AlloJoinTM for Knee
Osteoarthritis in the United
States. To learn more about CBMG, please
visit www.cellbiomedgroup.com.
About BioLife Solutions
BioLife Solutions develops, manufactures and markets
biopreservation media products and smart shipping containers
connected to a cloud-hosted cold chain management app to improve
the quality of delivery logistics for cells, tissues, and organs.
The Company's proprietary HypoThermosol® and
CryoStor® platform of solutions are highly valued in the
biobanking, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine markets.
BioLife's biopreservation media products are serum-free and
protein-free, fully defined, and are formulated to reduce
preservation-induced cell damage and death. BioLife's enabling
technology provides commercial companies and clinical researchers
significant improvement in shelf life and post-preservation
viability and function of cells, tissues, and organs. For
more information please visit www.biolifesolutions.com, and follow
BioLife on Twitter.
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, statements concerning new products,
the company's anticipated business and operations, the potential
utility of and market for its products and services, potential
revenue growth and market expansion, and commercial manufacturing
of our customers' products. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on management's current
expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements, including among other things, uncertainty regarding
market adoption of products; uncertainty regarding third-party
market projections; market volatility; competition; litigation; and
those other factors described in our risk factors set forth in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to
time, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements contained herein or to reflect events or
circumstances occurring after the date hereof, other than as may be
required by applicable law.
Media & Investor
Relations
Roderick de
Greef
Chief Financial Officer
(425) 686-6003
rdegreef@biolifesolutions.com
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SOURCE BioLife Solutions, Inc.