BioTime and Romulus Agree to Accelerate Closing Date for Second Tranche of $5 Million Financing
A total of $17.6 million in new capital raised by BioTime and its
subsidiaries since October 2012
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 7, 2013--
BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BTX) today announced it has amended its $5
million Stock and Warrant Purchase Agreement with Romulus Films, Ltd.,
originally signed on January 4, 2013. Through the amendment, BioTime and
Romulus have agreed to accelerate the closing date for the $3 million
second tranche of the $5 million financing. The first $2 million tranche
under the agreement was funded in January 2013. The second tranche was
originally intended to close later this year concurrent with the closing
of the acquisition of certain stem cell assets by BioTime’s subsidiary
BioTime Acquisition Corporation (BAC) pursuant to an Asset Contribution
Agreement among BioTime, BAC, and Geron Corporation. Under the
amendment, the remaining $3 million investment in BioTime will be funded
on April 10, 2013. Romulus has also committed to invest $5 million in
BAC in conjunction with the consummation of the stem cell asset
acquisition, which is expected to occur later this year.
BioTime plans to use the proceeds from this financing to fund its
planned $5 million cash investment in BAC. BioTime will advance funds to
BAC to finance BAC’s continued progress in preparation for the
completion of the stem cell asset acquisition transaction. Since Romulus
and BioTime signed their agreement in January, a 24,000 sq. ft. research
facility has been leased for use by BAC, and BAC has acquired equipment
for its research facility, recruited experienced senior research and
product development management personnel, and worked to establish
relationships with academic institutions and potential commercial
development partners.
BioTime has raised gross proceeds of approximately $14.6 million since
October 2012, including the $2 million first tranche of the equity
financing from Romulus, and approximately $12.6 million from the sale of
approximately 2.9 million common shares at a weighted average price of
$4.34 per share in the open market. The 2.9 million shares were sold
through BioTime’s $25 million Controlled Equity Offering facility with
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., as sales agent, and through the sale of BioTime
shares held by its majority owned subsidiaries, LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
and Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.
“These funds, plus the commitment from Romulus Films to invest $5
million in BAC upon closing the stem cell asset acquisition transaction,
will significantly strengthen our balance sheet and our ability to
execute on our operating plan over the coming year, including financing
the initiation of planned clinical trials of Renevia™ and PanC-Dx™,”
said Peter Garcia, BioTime’s Chief Financial Officer.
Jonathan Woolf, Director of Romulus Films, a United Kingdom based
investment company, said, “As a significant and long-term investor in
Geron Corporation, we are very pleased to be supporting BioTime and BAC
in the acquisition of Geron’s embryonic stem cell assets. We believe
these assets, which had shown early success and were considered to be
world-leading prior to discontinuation by Geron in late 2011, may have
the potential to revolutionize medicine and provide untold benefits to
patients in the future in many significant and unmet areas of disease
prevention and cure. We are pleased with BAC’s progress announced today,
as well as the progress that BioTime and its subsidiaries have announced
in recent months with their product development programs. To support
these developments, we have agreed to accelerate part of our investment
in BioTime. We believe that after the stem cell asset acquisition
transaction is completed, BAC and the BioTime family of companies will
hold the largest concentration of stem cell and regenerative medicine
assets and experience in the world.”
About BioTime, Inc.
BioTime, headquartered in Alameda, California, is a biotechnology
company focused on regenerative medicine and blood plasma volume
expanders. Its broad platform of stem cell technologies is enhanced
through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of application. BioTime
develops and markets research products in the fields of stem cells and
regenerative medicine, including a wide array of proprietary PureStem™
cell lines, HyStem® hydrogels, culture media, and
differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia™ (formerly
known as HyStem®-Rx), a biocompatible,
implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for cell delivery in
human clinical applications. BioTime's therapeutic product development
strategy is pursued through subsidiaries that focus on specific organ
systems and related diseases for which there is a high unmet medical
need. BioTime's majority-owned subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.
is developing therapeutic products derived from stem cells for the
treatment of retinal and neural degenerative diseases. BioTime's
subsidiary OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapeutic applications
of stem cells to treat orthopedic diseases and injuries. Another
subsidiary, OncoCyte Corporation, focuses on the diagnostic and
therapeutic applications of stem cell technology in cancer, including
the diagnostic product PanC-Dx™ currently being developed for the
detection of cancer in blood samples. ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. is
developing applications of BioTime's proprietary induced pluripotent
stem cell technology to reverse the developmental aging of human cells
to treat cardiovascular and blood cell diseases. BioTime's subsidiary
LifeMap Sciences, Inc. markets GeneCards®, the leading
human gene database, as part of an integrated database suite that also
includes the LifeMap Discovery™ database of embryonic
development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine, and MalaCards,
the human disease database. LifeMap Sciences also markets BioTime
research products and PanDaTox, an innovative, recently
developed, searchable database that can aid in the discovery of new
antibiotics and biotechnologically beneficial products. BioTime
Acquisition Corporation is a new subsidiary being used to acquire the
stem cell assets of Geron Corporation, including patents and other
intellectual property, biological materials, reagents, and equipment for
the development of new therapeutic products for regenerative medicine.
BioTime's lead product, Hextend®, is a blood plasma
volume expander manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira,
Inc. and in South Korea by CJ CheilJedang Corporation under exclusive
licensing agreements. Additional information about BioTime can be
obtained at www.biotimeinc.com.
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,” “may”
“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.
BioTime, Inc.
Peter Garcia, 510-521-3390, ext 367
Chief
Financial Officer
pgarcia@biotimemail.com
or
Judith
Segall, 510-521-3390, ext 301
jsegall@biotimemail.com
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