AgeX Therapeutics Inc. (AGE), Pluristyx Announce Pact to Expand Access to Clinical-Grade Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Therapeutic Applications

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for human aging and regeneration, and Pluristyx, Inc. (Seattle, WA), an advanced therapy tools and services company serving customers in the rapidly growing fields of regenerative medicine and cellular and gene therapies, today announced they have entered into a Manufacturing, Marketing, and Distribution Agreement through which Pluristyx will undertake these activities on behalf of AgeX with respect to AgeX’s research- and clinical-grade ESI brand human embryonic stem cells, sometimes referred to as hESCs.

The agreement builds on Pluristyx’s strategy to manufacture, market, and distribute high-quality standardized Ready-to-Use™ and Ready-to-Differentiate™ pluripotent stem cells to industry and academic scientists intent on developing therapeutic products to treat human disease. AgeX’s ESI hESC lines are distinguished for being the first clinical-grade hESC lines created under current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP). The AgeX ESI hESC lines are listed on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stem Cell Registry and are among the best characterized and documented stem cell lines available worldwide.

The agreement is a key step in AgeX’s licensing and collaboration strategy to facilitate industry and academic access to its hESC lines, its PureStem® cell derivation and manufacturing platform, and its UniverCyte™ immunotolerance technology in order to generate near- and long-term revenues.

“A recent FDA IND clearance for a biotech company to begin a human trial for a cell therapy candidate derived from an AgeX ESI hESC line has amplified interest from industry and academia to utilize our cells in regenerative medicine. It is AgeX’s goal to make its cell lines the gold standard when it comes to therapeutic products derived from pluripotent stem cells. We are delighted to be working with the Pluristyx team given their extensive cGMP manufacturing experience with pluripotent stem cells,” said Dr. Nafees Malik, Chief Operating Officer of AgeX.

“Pluristyx is excited to be working with AgeX and their ESI hESC lines. As AgeX intends to make their cell lines the gold standard, our aim is to disrupt and redefine stem cell therapy manufacturing with our proprietary, high-density format, Ready-to-Use™ and Ready-to-Differentiate™ hESC lines, which will dramatically reduce both cost and time in translating revolutionary therapies from bench to bedside,” said Dr. Benjamin Fryer, CEO of Pluristyx.

Academic and biopharma organizations will need to obtain separate commercial licenses from AgeX in order to advance their cellular product candidates generated from AgeX hESC lines into human clinical trials and commercialization. AgeX retains all rights to manufacture its own in-house cellular products as well as to extend license rights to other third parties.

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