Asterias Biotherapeutics Completes Public Offering and Private Placement of Common Stock

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: AST) (the "Company"), a leading biotechnology company in the emerging field of regenerative medicine, announced today that it has completed the previously announced underwritten public offering and concurrent private placement of its common stock. 

The Company raised $5.5 million in aggregate gross proceeds from the public offering and the private placement, which it intends to use for the continued development of product candidates through clinical trials and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

"This investment by new and existing investors, as well as by management, demonstrates the continued confidence in our strategic direction and the progress achieved with respect to our two key clinical development programs that have the potential to address significant unmet medical needs using our pluripotent stem cell technology platform," stated Pedro Lichtinger, President and CEO of Asterias. "Of our two lead product candidates, AST-OPC1 for the treatment of complete cervical spinal cord injury has been cleared for a Phase 1/2a clinical trial and AST-VAC2 is expected to enter a Phase 1 clinical trial. Our strengthened cash position, combined with the non-dilutive funding that we secured last year from partnerships with leading scientific institutions, provides resources and flexibility required to execute our strategic plan in order to further advance these two products through meaningful clinical milestones."

MLV & Co. LLC served as Sole Book-Running Manager for the public offering.  The common stock sold in the public offering was offered by the Company pursuant to a registration statement previously filed and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

About Asterias Biotherapeutics

Asterias' core technologies center on stem cells capable of becoming all of the cell types in the human body, a property called pluripotency. Asterias plans to develop therapies based on pluripotent stem cells to treat diseases or injuries in a variety of medical fields having major unmet needs and without adequate therapies available. Asterias initial focus is on two clinical stage programs including oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (AST-OPC1) for spinal cord injuries and antigen-presenting allogeneic dendritic cells (AST-VAC2) for lung cancer.

Asterias is a majority-owned subsidiary of BioTime, Inc., (NYSE MKT: BTX), a biotechnology company engaged in research and product development in the field of regenerative medicine.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating results, future growth in research, technology, clinical development, and potential opportunities for Asterias, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates") should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the businesses of Asterias, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in Asterias' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Asterias disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements

SOURCE Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com