Pluristem Announces US FDA Acceptance of its Pre-IND Application to begin Pre-clinical Studies using PLX- I in Hematological Malignancies

Thursday February 8, 6:00 am ET 

PLX-BMT is an innovative adjuvant cell therapy product based on PLacenta eXpanded Mesenchymal cells. PLX- I is expected to be used to improve the engraftment of Umbilical Cord Blood when treating blood cancer and blood disorders. Acceptance of the Pre-IND document by the FDA precedes initiation of Phase I trials.

Zami Aberman, CEO of Pluristem, stated, "We are pleased to receive FDA's acceptance of our proposed pre-clinical studies, which may then pave the way for initiating human clinical trials during 2007. The meeting results prove the ability of our team to meet its target milestones. We are enthusiastic about the potential of our placental derived MSCs to become a superior alternative to bone marrow transplantation. We designed PLX-BMT to improve umbilical cord blood (UCB) engraftment, which if successful could be the key to resolving the global shortage of bone marrow tissue matching for transplantation."

We believe that our placental derived Mesenchymal Stems Cells (MSCs), which are expanded using the Company's unique PluriX technology, may be useful for disorders other than hematological malignancies. Recently we announced that our research provided evidence that PLX cells are "immune privileged," which means they are invisible to a transplant recipient's immune system and do not trigger rejection enabling the use of PLX cells to treat other disorders."

About Pluristem

Pluristem Life Systems, Inc. is life sciences driven company that is developing and commercializing of non personalized stem cell expansion technology products for the potential treatment of a variety of disorders. The Company is discovering and developing cell-based therapeutics that utilizes adult stem cells expanded in a three-dimensional proprietary bioreactor mimicking different naturally occurring physiological environments. Pluristem expects its first products to be cell grafts that will provide an efficient and superior alternative to the standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation. PLX-BMT, its first adult stem cell product, is intended to target a critical global shortfall of matched tissue for bone marrow transplantation since bone marrow transplantation is often the only cure for patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and many other hematological diseases. The Company has made a strategic decision to work only with adult stem cells since the practical use of embryonic stem cells is severely restricted by various religious, ethical and legal considerations.

For more information, please visit our website: www.pluristem.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward-looking statements in this release include that FDA's acceptance of our proposed pre-clinical studies may pave the way for initiating human clinical trials during 2007; that our placental derived MSCs have the potential to become a superior alternative to bone marrow transplantation; that our first products will be cell grafts that will provide an efficient and superior alternative to the standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation; that PLX-BMT could be the key to resolving the global shortage of bone marrow tissue matching for transplantation; that our unique PluriX technology may be useful for disorders other than hematological malignancies. Factors which may prevent these forward looking statements from coming to fruition include that our technology may not be validated as we progress further; our methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; we may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of our products; unforeseen scientific difficulties may develop with our process; results in the laboratory may not translate to equally good results in real surgical settings; our patents may not be sufficient to protect essential aspects of our technology; competitors may invent better technology; our products may not work as well as hoped or worse, our products may harm recipients; and we may not be able raise funds for development or working capital when we require it. As well, our products may never develop into useful products and even if they do, they may not be approved for sale to the public. For further risk factors see the Company's latest 10-KSB filed with the SEC.

For more information visit our website at www.pluristem.com