FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: AST), a biotechnology company focused on the emerging field of regenerative medicine, announced that Steve Cartt, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Rodman & Renshaw 18th Annual Global Investment Conference today, Monday, September 12, 2016 at 5:05 PM Eastern Time at The Lotte New York Palace Hotel. A live webcast of the presentation will be accessible at asteriasbiotherapeutics.com. An archived presentation will be available for 90 days after the event.
In addition, on Wednesday, September 14, 2016, Edward Wirth, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Asterias, will present interim efficacy data from the 10 million cell cohort in the company's ongoing AST-OPC1 SCiSTAR Phase 1/2a clinical study in complete cervical spinal cord injury patients. The presentation will take place during the 55th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS), which is being held in Vienna, Austria, on September 14-16, 2016. Included in this interim efficacy data review will be results observed-to-date in the AST-OPC1 trial at several current SCiSTAR clinical trial sites including the USC Keck School of Medicine, which recently provided an update on one of the patients participating in the study at the following link keckmedicine.org.
The SCiSTAR study is funded in part by a $14.3 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
For more information on the SCiSTAR study please visit clinicaltrials.gov.
About AST-OPC1
AST-OPC1, an oligodendrocyte progenitor population derived from human embryonic stem cells, has been shown in animals and in vitro to have three potentially reparative functions that address the complex pathologies observed at the injury site of a spinal cord injury. These activities of AST-OPC1 include production of neurotrophic factors, stimulation of vascularization, and induction of remyelination of denuded axons, all of which are critical for survival, regrowth and conduction of nerve impulses through axons at the injury site. In preclinical animal testing, AST-OPC1 administration led to remyelination of axons, improved hindlimb and forelimb locomotor function, dramatic reductions in injury-related cavitation and significant preservation of myelinated axons traversing the injury site.
In a previous Phase 1 clinical trial, five patients with neurologically complete, thoracic spinal cord injury were administered two million AST-OPC1 cells at the spinal cord injury site 7-14 days post-injury. They also received low levels of immunosuppression for the next 60 days. Delivery of AST-OPC1 was successful in all five subjects with no serious adverse events associated with the administration of the cells, with AST-OPC1 itself, or the immunosuppressive regimen. No evidence of rejection of AST-OPC1 was observed in detailed immune response monitoring of all patients. In four of the five patients, serial MRI scans indicated that reduced spinal cord cavitation may have occurred. Based on the results of this study, Asterias received approval from FDA to progress testing of AST-OPC1 to patients with complete cervical spine injuries, which represents the first targeted population for registration trials.
About Asterias Biotherapeutics
Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a leading biotechnology company in the emerging field of regenerative medicine. The company's proprietary cell therapy programs are based on its immunotherapy and pluripotent stem cell platform technologies. Asterias is presently focused on advancing three clinical-stage programs which have the potential to address areas of very high unmet medical need in the fields of oncology and neurology. AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells) is currently in a Phase 1/2a dose escalation clinical trial in spinal cord injury. AST-VAC1 (antigen-presenting autologous dendritic cells) is being evaluated by Asterias for further development after demonstrating promise in a Phase 2 study in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and completing a successful end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA. AST-VAC2 (antigen-presenting allogeneic dendritic cells) represents a second generation, allogeneic immunotherapy. The company's research partner, Cancer Research UK, plans to begin a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of AST-VAC2 in non-small cell lung cancer in 2017. Additional information about Asterias can be found at www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com.
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