BioLife Solutions CryoStor® Demonstrates Superior Cell Preservation In Multicenter Biobanking Study

BOTHELL, Wash., Aug. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:  BLFS), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of proprietary clinical grade hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media and precision thermal shipping products for cells and tissues ("BioLife" or the "Company"), today announced that the Company's CryoStor clinical grade cell freeze media was evaluated in a multicenter biobanking study of various shipment conditions for cells used to support proficiency testing programs. The results of the study were recently published in the journal article Viable mononuclear cell stability study for implementation in a proficiency testing program: impact of shipment conditions, which appeared in Biopreservation and Biobanking.

Participating research laboratories included the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg, PPD Vaccines and Biologics Laboratory, and UCSF AIDS Specimen Bank, all operating in compliance with ISO17025, CLIA, and Good Laboratory Practice Guidelines (GLP).

The study compared preservation media [(serum-free CryoStor, home-brew DMSO and serum, AQIX^® room temperature transport medium), and shipping conditions (frozen in liquid nitrogen (LN), frozen in dry ice (DI), ambient temperature)] with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and Jurkat cells.

The study authors' conclusions include:

• "CryoStor® CS10/Dry Ice combination gives higher viability by every method, for each viability level, and is the most cost-efficient shipment method."
• "… LN shipments are impractical.  In these cases, we show that alternatively high quality shipment conditions for viable cells are dry ice shipment and CryoStor® CS10 cryopreservation medium."
• "… for both Jurkat and PBMC cells, it is possible to use CryoStor® CS10 with dry ice shipment or when the initial cell suspension displays suboptimal viability, without dramatic impact on cell viability."
• "Room temperature transport medium dramatically and adversely affected the integrity of mononuclear cells."

Mike Rice, BioLife's President & CEO commented on the study results by stating, "The results and conclusions of this well-designed study further demonstrate the superior preservation efficacy of our clinical grade biopreservation media.  We are pleased to see increased recognition of the limitations and issues related to the use of home-brew preservation cocktails, and it is clear that our efforts to educate and support our key markets on the benefits of our pre-formulated, serum-free, protein-free biopreservation media products are paying off.  We are also encouraged by the comparative data on the use of dry ice shippers, as compared to liquid nitrogen, which carries associated increased total use cost and complications.  As we launch our biologistex^SM cold chain shipping service in the coming months, we believe data like this will support the use of our EVO smart shipper, which operates at several temperature ranges using dry ice and phase change materials (PCM)."

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions develops, manufactures and markets hypothermic storage and cryopreservation solutions and precision thermal shipping products for cells, tissues, and organs. BioLife also performs contract aseptic media formulation, fill, and finish services. 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 our potential revenue growth, market size and market expansion. 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 our products; 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.

SOURCE BioLife Solutions, Inc.