ThermoGenesis Announces Agreement for AXP and BioArchive Cord Blood Systems With Major Chinese Stem Cell Company

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ThermoGenesis Corp. (Nasdaq: KOOL), a leading supplier of innovative products and services that process and store adult stem cells, said today it has signed a product purchase agreement with Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd ("Beike"), a leading stem cell and regenerative medicine company in China.

Under the agreement, ThermoGenesis will supply Beike with an initial stocking in fiscal 2011 of its AXP® AutoXpress® ("AXP") and BioArchive® Systems used in the processing and storage of stem cells from cord blood.

Beike is headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and has offices in several major China cities, including the China Medical City. Beike produces a full line of products derived from umbilical cord tissue, cord blood and bone marrow stem cells. Beike operates three stand-alone cord blood processing and storage facilities, 18 specialized laboratories that process cord blood collections, two stem cell research laboratories and five stem cell banks.

"We are delighted to be partnering with Beike, a regenerative medicine leader in China. The agreement taps us into the attractive and rapidly-growing Chinese market for cord blood collection and storage, including the development of stem cell-based therapies. We look forward to helping them further develop the market," said J. Melville Engle, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

The two organizations plan to collaborate on the development of new enabling technologies to maximize automation of the workflow process for the expansion of certain kinds of stem cells from umbilical cords and cord blood.

"Adopting the AXP and BioArchive technologies is an essential part of Beike's strategy to be the technology and quality leader in cord blood processing and storage in China," said Dr. Shengqin Ye, Chief Executive Officer of Beike. "Furthermore, implementation of the AXP automated system is integral to our bid to become the first bank in China to achieve AABB accreditation for processing and storage of cord blood and cord tissue," he continued.

About Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd

Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd is a leading biotechnology company in stem cell therapy and stem cell banking whose scientists have been dedicated to the development and commercialization of adult stem cell therapies since 1999. The Beike's stem cell banking operations started in 2008. The company currently produces a full line of stem cell products derived from umbilical cord, cord blood tissue and bone marrow stem cells.

Recent publications:

1. Jun Liang , Fei Gu , Hong Wang , Bingzhu Hua , Yayi Hou , Songtao Shi , Liwei Lu & Lingyun Sun. Mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in SLE. Nature Reviews Rheumatology, Advance online publication June 1, 2010.
2. Lingyun Sun, Dandan Wang, Jun Liang, Huayong Zhang, Xuebing Feng, Hong Wang, Bingzhu Hua, Bujun Liu, Shengqin Ye, Xiang Hu, Wenrong Xu, Xiaofeng Zeng, Yayi Hou , Gary S Gilkeson, Richard M Silver, Liwei Lu, Songtao Shi. Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in severe and refractory systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis & Rheumatism, Vol 62, No 8, August 2010, pp 2467-2475.
3. Wan-Zhang Yang, Yun Zhang, Fang Wu, Wei-Ping Min, Boris Minev, Min Zhang, Xiao-Ling Luo, Famela Ramos, Thomas E Ichim, Neil H Riordan and Xiang Hu. Safety evaluation of allogeneic umbilical cord blood mononuclear cell therapy for degenerative conditions. Journal of Translational Medicine 2010, 8:75doi:10.1186/1479-5876-8-75. August 3, 2010.
4. Chen Y, Qian H, Zhu W, Zhang X, Yan Y, Ye S, Peng X, Li W, Xu W. Hepatocyte growth factor modification promotes the amelioration effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on rat acute kidney injury. Stem Cells Dev., May 6, 2010.

About ThermoGenesis Corp.

ThermoGenesis Corp. (www.thermogenesis.com) is a leader in developing and manufacturing automated blood processing systems and disposable products that enable the manufacture, preservation and delivery of cell and tissue therapy products. These include:

• The BioArchive® System, an automated cryogenic device, used by cord blood stem cell banks in more than 30 countries for cryopreserving and archiving cord blood stem cell units for transplant.
• AXP® AutoXpress™ Platform ("AXP"), a proprietary family of automated devices that includes the AXP and the MXP™ MarrowXpress™ and companion sterile blood processing disposables for harvesting stem cells in closed systems. The AXP device is used for the processing of cord blood. The MXP is used for the preparation of cell concentrates, including stem cells, from bone marrow aspirates in the laboratory setting.
• The Res-Q™ 60 BMC ("Res-Q"), a point-of-care system designed for the preparation of cell concentrates, including stem cells, from bone marrow aspirates.
• The CryoSeal® FS System, an automated device and companion sterile blood processing disposable, used to prepare fibrin sealants from plasma in about an hour. The CryoSeal FS System is approved in the U.S. for liver resection surgeries. The CryoSeal FS System has received the CE-Mark which allows sales of the product throughout the European community.

This press release contains forward-looking statements.  These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Several factors including timing of FDA approvals, changes in customer forecasts, our failure to meet customers' purchase order and quality requirements, supply shortages, production delays, changes in the markets for customers' products, introduction timing and acceptance of our new products scheduled for fiscal year 2011, and introduction of competitive products and other factors beyond our control could result in a materially different revenue outcome and/or in our failure to achieve the revenue levels we expect for fiscal 2011.  A more complete description of these and other risks that could cause actual events to differ from the outcomes predicted by our forward-looking statements is set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K and other reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, and you should consider each of those factors when evaluating the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE ThermoGenesis Corp.