CellResearch Corporation Extends Umbilical Cord Tissue Banking Services Across the US through Partnership with University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus and CariCord

SINGAPORE, Nov. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CellResearch Corporation Pte Ltd ("CellResearch"), a Singapore-based company that specializes in stem cell technology, through its wholly owned subsidiary, CordLabs Pte Ltd ("CordLabs"), has entered into an agreement with CariCord Inc. ("CariCord") to provide umbilical cord tissue banking services in the United States. CariCord is the private postnatal cord blood and tissue banking partner of ClinImmune Labs ("ClinImmune") at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus ("UCAMC").

This agreement extends CellResearch's on-going collaboration with ClinImmune. The two groups are already working together to obtain US Federal Drug Agency ("US FDA") approval for Corlicyte™, a drug for the treatment of diabetic wounds. ClinImmune will produce the world's first Current Good Manufacturing Practices ("cGMP") cord lining mesenchymal stem cell lines for therapeutic use.

In recent years, advances in medicine have increased the number of conditions and diseases that can be treated with stem cell therapy. Cord blood stem cell therapies can now treat more than 80 diseases, including certain types of leukemia and various blood, immune and metabolic disorders. At the same time, there have been significant developments in mesenchymal stem cell therapy, with over 600 US FDA clinical trials currently underway. The global market for cellular therapy amounts to several billions of dollars annually, and is set to grow exponentially.

CellResearch is the innovator and market leader in the development of cord tissue as a source for both mesenchymal and epithelial stem cells. The company's extensive patent portfolio covers the technology behind isolating and storing these stem cells, as well as certain therapeutic pathways.

This agreement licenses CariCord to utilize CellResearch's technology and know-how to store cord tissue for private clients in the United States. It also envisages that CariCord will expand cord tissue banking across the country through other private stem cell banks. These private clients will join CellResearch's Global Cord Registry ("GCR") -- a proprietary registry for all clients who have saved cord lining stem cells with licensed partners. With over 50,000 registered clients currently, the largest such group in the world, all can benefit from the rapid development of cellular therapy technology, and will have access to licensed therapy partners.

CellResearch CEO Gavin Tan states, "We are tremendously excited about this collaboration. We believe that through cord tissue, we have a superior source of mesenchymal and epithelial stem cells. Cord lining stem cells are positioned to be the platform technology of choice for future cellular therapy. The value to parents who have banked their child's cord tissue will be significant and will continue to grow over time."

CariCord, Inc. CEO Calvin Cole states, "We are excited to be the licensee of this technology in the United States. Families that take advantage of our banking services have the advantage of knowing these cells will be registered in the Global Cord Registry."

About CellResearch Corporation Pte Ltd

Founded in Singapore in 2002 by a group of clinician scientists and investors, CellResearch Corporation Pte Ltd is the pioneer and global leader in cord tissue stem cells for stem cell regenerative medicine and therapy. Both an inventor and market leader in this space, CellResearch is at its core a cord tissue stem cell technology asset manager. Its main business lines comprise the licensed banking of cord tissue through its wholly owned subsidiary CordLabs Pte Ltd, cosmeceuticals in the form of its product Calecim™, and advanced wound care through the development of its product Corlicyte™. CellResearch also owns one of the world's largest private skin, scar and keloid cell libraries, which provides high quality primary cell strains, culture media and research service support to researchers and corporations worldwide. A company valuation of S$730 million as of 2015 can be attributed to the impressive pace at which CellResearch has worked to obtain a vast range of patents in over 39 countries worldwide for their innovations and products.

CellResearch has formed commercial partnerships with conglomerates in the bio-medical industry. The company's subsidiary CordLabs is also in a strategic alliance with Singapore-listed company Cordlife Group Ltd ("Cordlife"), providing human postnatal umbilical cord tissue storage services. Cordlife is the dominant market leader in the cord blood and tissue banking business in Singapore, and its alliance with CellResearch covers many Asian countries/regions such as India, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

About CariCord Inc

CariCord Inc is the private family cord blood bank and partner of the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus's ClinImmune Labs. ClinImmune is one of only six US FDA licensed, Biologics License Applications ("BLA") laboratories in existence; ClinImmune has been storing publicly donated cord blood units since 2006. It is the world's first and only provider to deliver private cord banking services in a US FDA licensed laboratory.

About University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus/ClinImmune Labs

The University of Colorado Medical School, located on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO, is one of the top public urban research universities in the United States. The Anschutz Medical Campus is one of the nation's newest health care campuses. Innovative architecture fosters collaboration among students, researchers and clinicians and extends to two world class campus hospitals: the University of Colorado Hospital and the Children's Hospital Colorado.

ClinImmune Labs is an academic enterprise of the Colorado School Anschutz Medical Campus with an FDA-licensed, cGMP stem cell/cord blood bank. ClinImmune Labs is a highly efficient academic business that integrates the highest quality laboratory services and products with its scholarly mission to contribute to the science of stem cell therapy, histocompatibility and immunogenetics. ClinImmune Labs is accredited by the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics ("ASHI"), the College of American Pathologists ("CAP"), the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act ("CLIA"), the American Associations of Blood Banks ("AABB"), and the Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy ("FACT").

Foo Mei-Zee
Head of Corporate Communications
CellResearch Corporation
Tel: +65 6444 9968
Email: [email protected]  

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SOURCE CellResearch Corp