NIH awards grant to Arteriocyte and its collaboration with The University of Utah and Dana Farber to develop its NANEX™ technology for use in Bone Marrow Transplant

CLEVELAND, Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Arteriocyte, a leading clinical stage biotechnology company developing cellular based therapies to treat human diseases, announced today the successful award of another grant by the National Institute of Health for the use of the NANEX™ platform in Hematopoietic Reconstitution Using Ex Vivo Expanded Umbilical Cord Blood CD34+ Stem Cells. The funding will enable development of the company's NANEX™ platform for use in stem cell transplants, a procedure most often performed for leukemia or multiple myeloma patients.

Arteriocyte's NANEX™ stem cell culture kit contains a proprietary nanofiber-based scaffold that improves the rapid expansion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells by mimicking the microenvironment of bone marrow.  Arteriocyte combines the NANEX™ scaffold with its proprietary culture medium and growth factors, enabling researchers to rapidly expand HSPCs.

Arteriocyte and its collaborators will use the funding to validate the clinical grade GMP process of stem cell expansion using the NANEX™ System.  The company will work closely with its clinical partners at Dana Farber and University of Utah on the project. Arteriocyte anticipates launching a GMP-grade NANEX™ closed culture stem cell expansion product within the next year, with an eye toward an FDA-approved device for clinical cell therapy use by late 2013.

Arteriocyte CEO, Don Brown said, "We are pleased to once again be recognized for the novel technologies that our team and our collaborators are developing in order to improve treatment options for patients in need. This award by the NIH demonstrates that we are on the right path to potentially play a role in the delivery of care for patients with leukemia and multiple myeloma."

About Arteriocyte

Arteriocyte, a leading clinical stage biotechnology company, is dedicated in developing novel stem cell products and medical devices for unmet clinical needs. Arteriocyte leverages its expertise in stem cell and tissue engineering in order to develop a broad portfolio of cell based therapeutics to improve patient outcomes. In October of 2007, Arteriocyte partnered with DW Healthcare Partners and Comerica to create Arteriocyte Medical Systems Inc., in order to commercialize and distribute novel medical devices and point of care surgical solutions to address serious unmet medical needs in cardiac, orthopedic and vascular surgeries. Arteriocyte Medical Systems manufactures and distributes the Magellan^® Autologous Platelet Separator System.

SOURCE Arteriocyte