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BioE is a biomedical company whose mission is to commercialize human umbilical cord blood stem cells and the associated tools and technologies needed to develop life-enhancing therapeutics and pharmaceuticals via high-quality cellular research and drug discovery. BioE was founded in 1993. Since 2001, our strategic focus has been on the commercialization of the company's proprietary Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cellâ„¢ (MLPCâ„¢) stem cell lines, and our innovative PrepaCyte® technology for the processing of cord blood stem cells and other therapeutically important cells. BioE is organized into two business areas surrounding these platform technologies in an effort to facilitate research partnerships and product commercialization. In 2004, we discovered the MLPC using our PrepaCyte platform. This very early-stage stem cell is comparable to an embryonic stem cell in its ability to differentiate into many common cell and tissue types â€" including neural stem cells, nerve cells, lung cells, early stage liver and pancreas cells, skeletal muscle, fat cells, bone cells and blood vessels. Based on its origin and differentiation capabilities, the MLPC represents and defines a new category of stem cell that bridges the limitations of a bone marrow-derived stem cell and the safety and ethical concerns of an embryonic stem cell. In July 2005, BioE became the first company in the world to commercialize this type of stem cell â€" licensing the MLPC to academia and industry for research, regenerative medicine and drug development. Looking ahead, the MLPC may be developed for a variety of therapeutic uses in humans. BioE's PrepaCyte platform has also been used to develop our PrepaCyte-CB Processing System, which is currently the subject of an international comparative in vitro clinical study. The clinical study, sponsored by BioE, will evaluate PrepaCyte-CB's performance for the clinical-grade bioprocessing of cord blood to maximize stem cell recovery. Clinical researchers from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), Newcastle University (Newcastle, England) and Cryobanks International (Orlando, Fla.) are participating in the study, which is expected to conclude in the coming months. The market release of PrepaCyte-CB is expected by the end of 2006, subsequent to the completion of our clinical study and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory path requirements. Once PrepaCyte-CB achieves FDA-compliant status, it could help bring standardization to the cord blood banking industry where processing techniques vary from site to site.