24th Jan 2006 07:00
ReNeuron Group plc24 January 2006 ReNeuron receives Notice of Allowance from US Patent Office for neural stem cell transplantation patent application Guildford, UK, 24 January 2006: ReNeuron Group plc (LSE: RENE.L) today announcedthat it has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and TrademarkOffice concerning a key patent application for methods of transplantation ofneural stem cells. The patent application (No. 09/760274) contains broad claims covering methods oftreatment of different types of brain damage by the transplantation ofconditionally immortal1 stem cells. The application encompasses cell linesproduced by technology that makes those cells conditionally immortal, such asthose generated using ReNeuron's proprietary c-mycERTAM platform technology.Equivalent patents to this US application have already granted in Europe andother significant territories. Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer of ReNeuron, said: "This allowance is an important enhancement to ReNeuron's already broadportfolio of proprietary and licensed patents covering neural and other stemcell types for therapeutic and other uses. As a result, the Company remainswell-placed to aggressively protect its stem cell products and technologies froman intellectual property perspective as those products move towards therealization of their commercial potential." 1. Conditionally immortal stem cells are those that, through modification, arecapable of dividing indefinitely in vitro to produce stem cell lines, but whosedivision can be fully arrested by various means, such as removal of certainconstituents present in the cell culture media. Enquiries: ReNeuronMichael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer Tel: 01483 302 560John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer Financial DynamicsDavid Yates Tel: 020 7831 3113Sarah Macleod Notes to Editors ReNeuron is a leading, UK-based adult stem cell therapy business. The Company isapplying its novel stem cell platform technologies in the development ofground-breaking stem cell therapies to serve significant and unmet or poorly-metclinical needs. ReNeuron has used its c-mycERTAM technology to generate genetically stableneural stem cell lines. This technology platform has multi-national patentprotection and is fully regulated by means of a chemically-induced safetyswitch. Cell growth can therefore be completely arrested prior to in vivoimplantation. The Company's lead stem cell therapy, ReN001 for chronic stroke disability, isin late pre-clinical development. The Company plans to file for approval tocommence initial clinical trials in stroke later this year, with trialscommencing as soon as possible thereafter. In addition to its ReN001 stroke programme, ReNeuron has programmes to developstem cell therapies to address Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Type 1diabetes and diseases of the retina. ReNeuron has also leveraged its stem cell technologies into non-therapeuticareas - its ReNcell range of cell lines for use in drug discovery applicationsin the pharmaceutical industry. The Company successfully completed its flotation on the London AIM market inAugust 2005, raising £9.5million before expenses. At flotation, the Companyalso issued warrants which, if exercised, will raise a further £5.7m for theCompany by February 2007. ReNeuron's shares are traded under the symbol RENE.L,and its warrants are traded under the symbol RENW.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found atwww.reneuron.com. This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to thefinancial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performanceof ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuronwith respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, beidentified by the use of words such as "should", "expects", "estimates","believes" or similar expressions. This announcement also containsforward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to theirestimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By theirnature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because theyreflect ReNeuron's current expectations and assumptions as to future events andcircumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of factors could causeReNeuron's actual financial condition, results of operations and businessachievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or impliedin such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not beplaced on such statements. The terms "ReNeuron" or "the Company" refer to ReNeuron Group plc and itssubsidiary undertakings. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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