Pluristem Pre-Clinical Results: Placenta Expanded Cell Therapy Product Increases Umbilical Cord Blood Engraftment up to 500% in Bone Marrow Transplants

Monday October 16, 7:31 am ET

BMT traditionally treats patients whose bone marrow has been damaged by chemotherapy, or certain genetic diseases that lead to anemia, leukemia, lymphomas, autoimmune disease and other blood-related disorders. Its effectiveness is severely limited because of the lack of a matching donor or shortage of UCB stem cells engrafted during the procedure. If additional animal studies and human clinical trials prove equally successful as this first Pre-Clinical, Pluristem's PLX-BMT product with 500% increased engraftment could lead to more Bone Marrow Transplants (BMT) for these types of blood cancers.

The animal studies were performed on immune-deficient NOD SCID mice following systemic myeloablation of their bone marrow to simulate the BMT clinical protocol. This in-vivo model is based on the known ability of human Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSC) to engraft in mouse bone marrow and to simulate the recovery of the human's Hematological system. 50,000-100,000 human UCB derived CD34+ cells (hUCB CD34+) were injected into the tail vein of NOD-SCID mice along with 0.5*106 PLX I cells. After periods of 28-32 days, mice were sacrificed and the marrow was analyzed. Human cell engraftment was performed in both sub lethally irradiated (350 Rad) and chemotherapy administrated (50 mg/kg Busulfan) mice. FACS analysis of human CD45 positive cells in mice bone marrow demonstrated an increscent of cell engraftment in part of the experimental animals up to 5 folds compared to mice transplanted with CD34+ cells only.

Mr. Zami Aberman, CEO, stated, "Co-transplantation of PLX-BMT cell types may be a promising manipulation improving cord blood performance during the bone marrow transplants in adults blood disorder. The pre-clinical results suggest blood disorder treatment is being improved by using MSC derived from placenta and expanded in Pluristem's 3D bioreactor in combination with UCB derived HSC. We strongly believe that PLX-BMT can change the clinical process now being used to treat blood cancer and could eventually save millions of lives."

About Pluristem

Pluristem Life Systems, Inc. is a life sciences driven company that is developing and commercializing stem cell expansion technology products for the treatment of severe blood disorders. The Company is discovering and developing cell-based therapeutics that utilizes adult stem cells expanded in a 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. Its first adult stem cell product targets 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. http://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 statements: results of our animal model study could benefit 100,000 blood cancer patients annually; that PLX-1 is intended to resolve the global shortfall of matched tissue for blood cancer patients requiring bone marrow transplantation by improving the engraftment of Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB); that if additional animal studies and human clinical trials prove equally successful as this first Pre-Clinical, Pluristem's PLX-BMT product with 500% increased engraftment could lead to more Bone Marrow Transplants (BMT) for these types of blood cancers; the pre-clinical results suggest blood disorder treatment is being improved by using MSC derived from placenta and expanded in Pluristem's 3D bioreactor in combination with UCB derived HSC; and we believe that PLX-BMT can change the clinical process now being used to treat blood cancer and could eventually save millions of lives. Factors which may significantly change or prevent our forward looking statements from fruition include that we may be unsuccessful in developing any products; that our technology may not be validated as we progress further and our methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; that pre-clinical trials results may not be able to be successfully duplicated in clinical trials; that we are unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of our products; that unforeseen scientific difficulties develop with our process; that results in the laboratory do not translate to equally good results in real surgical settings; that our patents are not sufficient to protect essential aspects of our technology; that competitors may invent better technology; that our products may not work as well as hoped or worse, that our products may harm recipients; and that 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.