FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5/30/06
Cambridge, MA, (May 30, 2006) ViaCell, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAC) and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) today announced an agreement to combine their efforts in the area of directed transplants of sibling donor cord blood. The combined program brings together CHORI’s nation-wide program and transplant experience with the high quality processing and customer service offered by
ViaCord®, ViaCell’s product offering for the preservation and storage of cord blood for related use. The
CHORI/ViaCord sibling transplant program offers umbilical cord blood preservation services to expectant parents who have a child in need of a transplant for a disease
currently treatable with cord blood stem cells. CHORI and ViaCord’s combined experience includes nearly 80 related cord blood transplants.
Under the agreement, ViaCell will manage the combined program and process and store new cord blood units collected for transplant under the sibling donor program at ViaCord’s Processing Laboratory. ViaCell will also have responsibility for releasing cord blood units called for transplant and assist families through the process. CHORI will continue to educate the transplant community on the directed transplant program and the importance of cord blood as well as monitor and evaluate the program. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The combined transplants of
CHORI and
ViaCord establish us as a leading provider of related cord blood stem cells for directed transplantation,” stated Mary T. Thistle, Senior Vice President, Business Development, ViaCell Reproductive Health. “I believe that through this partnership and working with the entire team at CHORI, led by Dr. Bertram Lubin and Dr. Mark Walters, we have the ability to expand our educational program to reach a broader range of physicians who treat patients who may benefit from cord blood stem cells.”
“I am delighted that together with ViaCell we have the opportunity to expand the sibling cord blood program to more patients,” said Dr. Bertram H. Lubin, Director of Medical Research at CHORI. “After thorough due diligence in assessing the field, I am confident that ViaCell processes cells in the highest quality manner, suitable for transplantation.”
About ViaCord
ViaCord is a product offering that allows expectant families the opportunity to preserve their baby’s umbilical cord blood for potential use by the child or a related family member. Stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood are currently a treatment option for over 40 diseases, including cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, certain bone marrow failure syndromes such as severe aplastic anemia and neuroblastoma, certain blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia and other metabolic diseases such as Hurler syndrome. Studies have shown that umbilical cord stem cell transplants from a related donor have a significantly higher survival rate than transplants from an unrelated donor. ViaCord uses multi-compartment cryobags as part of its closed processing system to ensure that cells are processed in a manner that meets U.S. FDA regulations designed to prevent contamination and error. Cryobags have been used in more than 99% of all cord blood transplants.
About CHORI
Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute is an internationally renowned biomedical research institute, CHORI bridges basic science and clinical research in the treatment and prevention of human disease. CHORI is a leader in translational research, providing cures for blood diseases, developing new vaccines for infectious diseases, and discovering new treatment protocols for previously fatal or debilitating conditions.
The CHORI Sibling Cord Blood Donor Program is a national program designed to provide a unique treatment option to families with children suffering from cancer, leukemia, hemoglobinopathies and other transplant-treatable illnesses. CHORI’s Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program facilitates the collection of umbilical cord blood at the time of delivery from newborn siblings of children who might benefit from a cord blood transplant.
About ViaCell, Inc.
ViaCell is a biotechnology company focused on enabling the widespread use of human cells as medicine. The Company is developing a pipeline of proprietary stem cell product candidates intended to address cancer, cardiac disease, and diabetes. CB001, its lead cord blood derived stem cell therapy product candidate, is being developed for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients affected by a variety of cancers. In addition to its therapeutic development programs, ViaCell’s reproductive health business commercializes ViaCord®, a product that offers expecting families the option of preserving their baby’s umbilical cord blood. The Company is working to leverage its commercial infrastructure and product development capabilities by developing ViaCyteSM, its investigational product intended to broaden reproductive choices for women through the cryopreservation of human unfertilized eggs. ViaCell is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a processing and storage facility in Kentucky and additional research and development operations in Singapore. Additional information about ViaCell is available online at http://www.viacellinc.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s sibling donor cord blood program. Such statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management’s current beliefs and expectations. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's current expectations include, but are not limited to: the impact of any potential adverse outcome in pending patent infringement litigation related to the cord blood preservation business, any other unexpected material issues, delays or failures in the collection, processing or storage of umbilical cord blood by the Company or CHORI, any unexpected technical hurdles or issues that may arise, and the impact of competition in the umbilical cord blood preservation industry. For more information on the risks and uncertainties associated with the Company and its products and programs, see the factors set forth under the heading “Risk Factors That May Affect Results” in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ending March 31, 2006, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which factors are incorporated herein by reference. ViaCell does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
ViaCell® and ViaCord® are federally registered trademarks and ViaCyteSM is a service mark of ViaCell, Inc.
