Liventa Bioscience and Cryoport form Alliance to deliver cell-based biologics to Point-of-Service Orthopedic Care

PHILADELPHIA and LAKE FOREST, Calif., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Liventa Bioscience (formerly AFcell Medical) and Cryoport, Inc. (OTC:CYRX)  today  announced a major strategic alliance aimed at serving the many points of orthopedic care delivery with Liventa's cell-based, advanced biologics tissue forms. The exclusive agreement combines Cryoport's proprietary, purpose-built cold chain logistics solutions for cell based and advanced biologic tissue forms with Liventa Bioscience's distribution capability to "point-of-use" US-based orthopedic care providers.

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In 2013, approximately $230 million of cell based biologic products for orthopedic uses were shipped to hospitals and other clinics using dry ice and hospital-based cryogenic freezers. Cryoport's solution, based on its Cryoport Express® liquid nitrogen dry vapor shippers, eliminates the need for dry-ice shipping and hospital based cryogenic freezers.

As a result of this alliance, Liventa will now be able to provide Cryoport Express® Shippers and Cryoport's Logistics Management Platform (the Cryoportal™) to all advanced biologics suppliers within the orthopedic arena. This logistics system coupled with the small portable cold chain containers, will enable Liventa to better serve small or mobile clinics, pharmacies, family practice and orthopedic specialty care providers. Surgical centers and hospitals also benefit from better logistics and the elimination of issues surrounding dry ice transport and storage.

Liventa's Chief Executive Officer, Robin Young, said, "After careful research, we concluded that Cryoport's logistics solutions, which include both shipping and information logistics, was by far the most advanced solution available for both our AmnioClear® cryopreserved tissue products and other cryopreserved cellular products.  Cryoport's system opens up every corner of the orthopedic industry to advanced biologic tissue and cell forms."

No Dry Ice or Installed Freezers
Cryoport's patented portable cryogenic logistics solutions substantially reduce the "process nuisance" as well as the cost of ordering, using, and storing cell-based biologic products at validated cryogenic temperatures. Cryoport's solution eliminates the need for hazardous dry ice or capital investment in cryogenic freezers.

Cryoport's Chief Executive Officer, Jerrell Shelton said, "Liventa Bioscience comes at a very important time in this early stage of applied stem cell therapy with its AmnioClear® platform. We are proud to be a strategic partner providing our unparalleled temperature controlled logistics solutions  to support this revolutionary company. This partnership is positioned to bring Liventa's AmnioClear® products and other advanced biologic solutions to an estimated 108 million patients annually who suffer from knee, hip, extremity, spine and other orthopedic disabilities."

Bridging Two Major Orthopedic Trends
Cryoport's logistics solutions plus Liventa's distribution bridges two powerful trends in orthopedics – the increasingly diversified orthopedic point-of-care delivery and the rising use of cell-based advanced biologics.

Orthopedic care is now provided in offices of the family practitioner, the internist, the orthopedist's ambulatory surgical center, the pain management clinic, the pharmacy, the physical medicine specialist, the rheumatologist, the sports medicine clinic and the chiropractor.  Among established orthopedic programs, hospital networks are the fastest growing practice sector in outpatient orthopedic care.

Most of these service providers do not have cryogenic freezers or the infrastructure to handle cell-based tissue forms. Even when there is a cryogenic freezer, space is at a premium. This new strategic agreement opens up the entire range of orthopedic markets and care providers to cell-based, advanced biologic tissue forms intended to promote healing and provide relief not available through other treatments.

Richard Rathmann, Chairman of the Board of Cryoport, Inc., "Cell-based therapies and tissue forms such as Liventa's AmnioClear® are providing a sea change in medicine just as Amgen and biotechnology did 30 years ago. This alliance reflects Cryoport's critical role as a solutions provider in the preservation and safe transport of these novel, life-altering therapies."

About Cryoport, Inc.
Cryoport provides leading edge frozen logistics solutions to the life sciences industry through the combination of purpose-built proprietary packaging, information technology and specialized cold chain logistics expertise. Its competencies range from skilled, total turnkey management of the entire life sciences cold chain logistics process to complex total management solutions for outsourced cold chain logistics.

Its packaging, built around its Cryoport Express® liquid nitrogen dry vapor shippers, is validated to maintain a constant -150°C temperature for a 10-plus day dynamic shipment duration. Its information technology boast a Cryoportal™ Logistics Management Platform which manages the entire shipment process, including initial order input, document preparation, customs clearance, integrator/courier management, shipment tracking, issue resolution, and delivery. Cryoport uses recyclable and reusable components providing an environmentally friendly solution. Cryoport solutions can record the "chain of condition" and "chain of custody" for shipments thereby meeting the exacting requirements for scientific work and for regulatory purposes. For more information, visit www.cryoport.com

About Liventa Bioscience
Liventa Biosciences, formerly AFcell Medical, Inc. is a commercial stage biotechnology company focused on bringing advanced biologics to market. Its innovative allograft tissue forms come from living donors and are available through independent distribution. Liventa is currently offering or is in the process of developing a number of advanced orthopedic biologics. These products include human collagen membrane sheets derived from placental tissues, flowable wound coverings, synovial fluid transplants and innovative new soft tissue repair implants. In addition to its strategic alliance with Cryoport, Liventa is also a key strategic partner with one of the premier independent distributor organizations in the United States, Crosslink Orthopaedics.

Liventa's advanced biologics for wound care include a range of placental derived coverings, which promise to significantly improve the cost/efficacy dynamic for chronic wound care patients.  Liventa's strategic partner for wound care solutions is the leading supplier of wound care products in the United States, Chicago based, Medline Inc. For more information on Liventa, visit www.liventabioscience.com

About Robin Young
Liventa Chief Executive Officer, Robin Young is one of the leading stem cell analysts in the United States.  He is the founder and CEO of the annual New York Stem Cell Summit now in its eighth year. Young is also publisher of Orthopedics Week, a leading industry journal. He has published more than 1,000 research reports and six books including Surgical Biomaterials,The Spinal Implant Industry and The Stock Market. Young was named "Best on the Street" by the Wall Street Journal and was identified as one of the top ten analysts in the United States by Institutional Investor Magazine.

Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this news release which are not purely historical, including statements regarding Cryoport, Inc.'s intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is important to note that the company's actual results could differ materially from those in any such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with the effect of changing economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the company's cash flow, market acceptance risks, and technical development risks. The company's business could be affected by a number of other factors, including the risk factors listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports including, but not limited to, the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2013. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Cryoport, Inc. disclaims any obligation, and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release.

SOURCE Liventa Bioscience