Cellerant Therapeutics Raises $10 Million for Life-Saving Therapies Based on Blood-Forming Stem Cells; Cellerant Secures Key Licenses from Novartis and Stanford University.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

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PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2003

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. announced that it has raised $10 million in a series A financing. The Company is developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based therapies for the treatment of life-threatening diseases, including cancer and autoimmune disorders. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are formed in the bone marrow and are responsible for generating the cells that make up the blood and immune systems. Cellerant was founded by Dr. Irving Weissman, who developed the Company's core technology for purifying HSCs. Cellerant has exclusively licensed stem cell expansion technology from Stanford University and acquired the rights to key intellectual property and assets from Novartis AG, including the promising results from three Phase I/II trials using highly purified HSCs to treat metastatic breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

Allen & Company LLC, MPM Capital and the Company founders were among the investors. The proceeds of the financing will be used to accelerate the Company's stem cell expansion program, to bring cell sorting and production facilities into full operation for Phase III clinical trials and to commence an internal research program for expanding the applications of HSC therapy and related technologies.

"Cellerant was founded to develop and commercialize our proprietary HSC purification and expansion technologies which we believe offer the potential for significant therapeutic improvements over current techniques," stated Bruce Cohen, President and CEO of Cellerant. "We are focused on moving our core HSC purification technology for cancer treatment toward regulatory approval. Furthermore, we have a strong foundation for building partnerships and expanding our technology's commercial potential with the substantial intellectual property, licenses and assets from Novartis and Stanford."

"We believe that Cellerant's HSC technology will lead to the development of novel treatments for severely ill patients who currently have few alternatives," stated Stephen D. Greenberg, Managing Director of Allen & Company LLC. "Furthermore, we are confident that the company can build a profitable business by leveraging its technology into lucrative therapeutic and service businesses."

About HSC transplantation

For many patients with difficult to treat forms of cancer, high dose chemotherapy and radiation may offer the only potential for survival. In order to help these patients recover from this intensive treatment, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are harvested from the patient before therapy and later transplanted (autologous transplantation) to regenerate the blood forming system. The blood forming system is the foundation of the human immune system and therefore the patient's ability to fight off disease and recover from injury. In the past, the clinical success of this strategy has been limited, in part due to the reintroduction of the patient's cancer cells during autologous transplantation, and, in some cases, the inability to transplant an adequate number of HSCs to rapidly regenerate the patient's blood forming system.

Cellerant's proprietary technology is based on the selection of cells that express two markers (CD34 and Thy-1) that are exclusively co-expressed on HSCs. This technique has been shown in Phase I/II clinical trials to reduce the number of cancer cells to below detectable levels, and thus may eliminate the risk of reintroducing cancer to the patient during autologous transplantation. Independent researchers recently published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine which found high-dose therapy with autologous, but unpurified, transplantation to be an effective first-line treatment for patients with multiple myeloma(1). Cellerant's technology may further improve the outcomes of patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy by eliminating cancer cells from the transplant.

About HSC expansion

Both autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplants are limited by the availability of sufficient quantities of cells to ensure rapid reconstitution of the hematopoietic system. Recent studies published by Tannishtha Reya, Roel Nusse, Dr. Weissman and their colleagues at Stanford and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the journal Nature(2) showed that a specific protein, called Wnt, induces the proliferation of highly purified HSCs without having them differentiate into specialized cell types. In vitro expansion of HSCs using Wnt or a downstream protein, called beta catenin, was shown to increase the number of transplantable stem cells more than 100-fold. If this proprietary technology were to be confirmed in human trials, it would have the potential to dramatically increase the eligible population for transplantation, reduce the costs of the transplant procedure and facilitate the development of novel allogeneic therapies.

The Cellerant Therapeutics Leadership Team

Cellerant is lead by Bruce Cohen, President and CEO, and Dr. Irving Weissman, a Director and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. Mr. Cohen has served in executive positions at several biotechnology companies including GeneSoft, Acacia Biosciences (acquired by Rosetta Impharmatics) and SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Alza). Dr. Weissman is the Karel and Avice Beekhuis Professor of Cancer Biology, Pathology and Developmental Biology and Director of the Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford University. In addition to his role as a scientific founder of Cellerant, Dr. Weissman is recognized with numerous academic awards and appointments related to his research on the developmental biology, self-renewal, homing and functions of the cells that make up the blood-forming and immune systems.

Cellerant has attracted a top-level of team Directors, including George B. Rathmann, Ph.D., Chairman of Hyseq and co-founder of Amgen; David Baltimore, Ph.D., President of the California Institute of Technology and winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize for his work in virology; and Stephen D. Greenberg, Managing Director at Allen & Company LLC. Cellerant's Medical and Scientific Advisory Board consists of individuals with recognized expertise in stem cell research, oncology, bone marrow transplantation and related fields.

About Cellerant Therapeutics

Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. (www.cellerant.com) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing and commercializing the use of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cell-based therapies for the treatment of a variety of cancers and autoimmune diseases. The company's extensive portfolio of intellectual property and clinical assets are licensed from Novartis and Stanford University. Cellerant's proprietary HSC technology is the basis for future commercial applications in allogeneic transplantation, stem cell expansion, protein pharmaceuticals and T-cell therapy.

Note to Editors:

The publications mentioned in the above press release can be referenced to the following sources:

(1) J. Anthony Child, M.D. et al. "High-Dose Chemotherapy with Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Rescue for Multiple Myeloma". The New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 348:1875-1883, Number 19, May 8, 2003.

(2) Tannistha Reya et al. "A role for Wnt signalling in self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells". Nature 423, 409 - 414 (2003); Nature AOP, published online 27 April 2003 (doi:10.1038/nature01593).