BioTime Announces Issuance of 31 New Patents to Strengthen its Patent Portfolio in Regenerative Medicine

New Patents Supplement Existing Portfolio of More Than 700 Patents and Patent Applications Owned or Licensed by BioTime Family of Companies Worldwide

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2016-- BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:BTX) today announced the issuance of 31 new patents between July 3, 2015 and August 3, 2016 that are owned by or licensed to BioTime, or its family of companies. The new patents add to the over 700 issued and pending patents worldwide in the collective portfolio and further strengthen the Company and its affiliates’ IP position in the field of regenerative medicine. The new patents include nine new U.S. patents, as well as 22 additional patents issued in Australia, Canada, China, India, Israel, and Japan.

“Patents are a key asset for biotechnology companies, especially in cases of emerging platform technologies such as pluripotent stem cell-based regenerative medicine,” said Michael D. West, Ph.D., BioTime’s Co-Chief Executive Officer. “Our pluripotent stem cell platform allows for the potential scalable manufacture of every cell type of the human body for a wide array of potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications. We plan to utilize these new patents to protect our core proprietary products in current and future development, as well as to attract new corporate alliances for the development of new products and applications.”

Select examples of new patents issued in the United States include:

• United States patent 9074181 – Claims methods for the culture of undifferentiated stem cells while in suspension as opposed to attached to the surface of a vessel. Such suspension culture enables full use of the three-dimensional space of the culture vessel and provides a rapid, efficient way of expanding undifferentiated stem cells, which may substantially reduce the cost of producing such cells in commercial quantities.
• United States patent 9085756 – Claims methods of screening for factors that differentiate primate pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic islet cells. These methods are useful for the manufacture of pancreatic islet cells for drug discovery and transplantation in humans for the treatment of diabetes.
• United States patents 9404085 and 9115343 – Claim culture media for differentiating stem cells to cardiac muscle cells, and methods for screening factors that induce differentiation of stem cells to cardiac muscle cells, respectively. The patents may have future uses in the manufacture of cardiac muscle cells from pluripotent stem cells.
• United States patent 9175263 – Claims peptide compositions that bind to and target a wide array of human progenitor cell lines. This patent is useful in the identification, screening, and purification of various cell lines, and potentially other diverse uses in preparing certain human cell types for use in research and therapy.
• United States patents 9243229 and 9238794 – Claim cultures of cardiac muscle cells and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells on cell culture surfaces containing certain specific polymers, respectively. These patents allow culturing of the claimed cell types in an environment free of animal-derived components and are therefore potentially useful for future therapeutic applications such as transplantation or drug testing.

Additional patents issued in the same time period include:

• United States patents 9074182, and 9115360
• Australia patents 2009209157, 2009209167, 2012203350, 2009228215, 2011218041 and 2012225784
• Canada patents 2692325, 2350210, 2453438, 2573437, 2569485, 2549295 and 2489712
• China patents ZL200910152133.X, ZL201010528128.7 and 201080041322.0
• India patent 269782
• Israel patent 203575
• Japan patents 5770213, 5792428, 5917429 and 5926240

About BioTime

BioTime, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing novel therapies developed from what we believe to be the world’s premier collection of pluripotent cell assets. The foundation of our core therapeutic technology platform is pluripotent cells that are capable of becoming any of the cell types in the human body. Pluripotent cells have potential application in many areas of medicine with large unmet patient needs, including various age-related degenerative diseases and degenerative conditions for which there presently are no cures. Unlike pharmaceuticals that require a molecular target, therapeutic strategies based on the use of pluripotent cells are generally aimed at regenerating or replacing affected cells and tissues, and therefore may have broader applicability than pharmaceutical products.

In addition to the development of therapeutics, BioTime’s research and other activities have resulted, over time, in the creation of other subsidiaries that address other non-therapeutic market opportunities such as cancer diagnostics, drug development and cell research products, and mobile health software applications.

BioTime common stock is traded on the NYSE MKT and TASE under the symbol BTX. For more information, please visit www.biotimeinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating results, future growth in research, technology, clinical development, and potential opportunities for BioTime and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as “will,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “estimates”) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of BioTime and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in BioTime's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. BioTime disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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Source: BioTime, Inc.

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