ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AgeX Therapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE American: BTX), focused on prolonging healthspan through an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human aging, today announced that it has closed a $5 million equity financing, through the sale of two million AgeX common shares to Juvenescence Ltd. Following the sale, BioTime owns approximately 80.6% of AgeX’s outstanding shares and Juvenescence and its principals owns approximately 7%.
“This investment, combined with the $10.8 million we previously raised from investors, the recently-announced cash received of approximately $3.2 million from the sale of Ascendance Biotechnology, and our recently-announced $386,000 grant from the NIH, provide sufficient capital for the continued development of our programs into 2020,” commented AgeX CEO Michael D. West, Ph.D. “We see in Juvenescence a team of visionary and highly-experienced executives that we believe will benefit us and our shareholders in building value in this incredibly exciting emerging field of medical technology.”
“AgeX is positioned to be a leader in developing therapeutics targeting some of the most compelling opportunities in the commercial market associated with aging,” said Dr. Greg Bailey, M.D. CEO of Juvenescence. “We have undertaken considerable research into the various strategies which could effectively address aging and age-related disease. The team at Juvenescence has concluded that the AgeX science and IP concerning cell immortality and regenerative biology are among the most promising of all of those technologies. In our opinion, AgeX portfolio is positioned to be indispensable in addressing unmet clinical needs in age-related degenerative disease.”
Founded in 2017, Juvenescence is a company that works with scientists and entrepreneurs to develop therapeutics to prolong active, healthy human lifespans.
About AgeX Therapeutics
AgeX Therapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE American: BTX), is a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for age-related degenerative disease. The company’s mission is to apply the proprietary technology platform related to telomerase-mediated cell immortality and regenerative biology to address a broad range of diseases of aging. The products under development include two cell-based therapies derived from telomerase-positive pluripotent stem cells and two product candidates derived from the company’s proprietary induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR™) technology. AGEX-BAT1 and AGEX-VASC1 are cell-based therapies in the preclinical stage of development comprised of young regenerative cells formulated in the company’s proprietary HyStem® matrix designed to correct metabolic imbalances in aging and to restore vascular support in ischemic tissues respectively. AGEX-iTR1547 is a drug-based formulation in preclinical development intended to restore regenerative potential in a wide array of aged tissues afflicted with degenerative disease using the company’s proprietary iTR technology. Renelon™ is a first-generation iTR product designed to promote scarless tissue repair which the Company plans to initially develop as a topically-administered device for commercial development through a 510(k) application. In addition to the product candidates in early development, the company, through its LifeMap subsidiary, currently markets genomic interpretation algorithms. In addition, the company, through its ESI BIO division, markets Cytiva®, comprised of PSC-derived heart muscle cells used in screening drugs for efficacy and safety.
For more information, please visit www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter or Facebook.
About Juvenescence, Limited
Juvenescence is developing multiple therapeutics focused on improving and extending human lifespans. The Juvenescence team comprises proven and seasoned experts in drug development, strategy, structure, commercialization and finance. From its outset, Juvenescence has staked out a major footprint in AI, and specifically in machine and deep learning through its part ownership of Insilico Medicine and through its ownership in NetraPharma and Juvenescence AI. Access to these two AI engines from our joint ventures will assist our efforts in drug discovery, as well as in optimizing human trials of the therapeutics we develop. Our company’s pipeline consists of pre-clinical candidates that have been joint ventured with leading research institutions and associated scientist inventors. In addition, we are partners with established companies such as Age X, where our role is to provide finance, development expertise and to help guide products with management towards commercialization.
About BioTime, Inc.
BioTime is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on degenerative diseases. Its clinical programs are based on two platform technologies: cell replacement and cell/drug delivery. With its cell replacement platform, BioTime is producing new cells and tissues with its proprietary pluripotent cell technologies. These cells and tissues are developed to replace those that are either rendered dysfunctional or lost due to degenerative diseases or injuries. BioTime’s cell/drug delivery programs are based upon its proprietary HyStem® cell and drug delivery matrix technology. HyStem® was designed, in part, to provide for the transfer, retention and/or engraftment of cellular replacement therapies. BioTime’s lead cell delivery clinical program is Renevia®, which consists of HyStem® combined with the patient's own adipose (fat) progenitor cells. Renevia® met its primary endpoint in an EU pivotal clinical trial for the treatment of facial lipoatrophy in HIV patients in 2017. BioTime has submitted Renevia® for CE Mark approval in the EU. There were no device related serious adverse events reported to date. BioTime’s lead cell replacement product candidate is OpRegen®, a retinal pigment epithelium transplant therapy, which is in a Phase I/IIa multicenter clinical trial for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in developing countries. There were no unexpected serious adverse events reported to date. BioTime also has significant equity holdings in two publicly traded companies, Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AST) and OncoCyte Corporation (NYSE American: OCX), and a private company, AgeX Therapeutics, Inc.
BioTime common stock is traded on the NYSE American and TASE under the symbol BTX. For more information, please visit www.biotime.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.
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