LifeMap Sciences, a Subsidiary of BioTime, Reports Its Databases Currently Utilized by an Estimated Two Million Unique Visitors Annually according to Google Analytics
LifeMap Sciences, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:BTX),
announced today that according to Google Analytics, the Company’s
databases have attracted over two million unique visitors in the
previous 12 months. Since the announcement of the acquisition of Xennex
in May 2012, LifeMap launched LifeMap Discovery™, a database
resource for stem cell research, and MalaCards, a database with
nearly 17,000 human disease entries. These assets, combined with GeneCards®,
a compendium of human genes, provide an integrated database suite with
diverse commercial opportunities in science and medicine. LifeMap
Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market GeneCards®
and MalaCards from Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd.,
the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science. LifeMap
Discovery™ is a database owned and developed by LifeMap Sciences. In
this update, LifeMap describes the nature of its current users, and
outlines for the first time its goals for 2013 in marketing products to
this user base.
According to Google Analytics, the sites have generated more than
2,000,000 unique visitors with more than 13,000,000 page views in the
past 12 months. LifeMap clients and partners include dozens of large,
fee-paying pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as
leading government patent offices, and its products are used free of
charge by scientists at more than a thousand academic institutions
worldwide.
LifeMap achievements since the last update include:
-
Oct 2012 – Commercial launch of MalaCards
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Nov 2012 – Commercial launch of LifeMap Discovery™
-
Nov 2012 – Release of GeneCards® version 1.09
-
Nov 2012 – Launch of LifeMap BioReagents™ portal to market
BioTime’s research products
-
Nov 2012 – Signing of definitive agreement with ProSpec-Tany
TechnoGene, a biotechnology company specializing in production of
bacterial-derived recombinant proteins, through which LifeMap Sciences
will be offering recombinant proteins, many of which are related to
stem cell research
-
Nov 2012 – Filing for patent protection of first intellectual property
generated from LifeMap’s data-mining technology
-
Dec 2012 – First shared publication with BioTime in the peer-reviewed
journal Regenerative Medicine
-
Jan 2013 – Publication in the peer-reviewed journal Bioinformatics
of a research report describing a non-redundant compendium of human
non-coding RNA, authored by GeneCards® scientists
under the supervision of Professor Doron Lancet from the Department of
Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science
-
Feb 2013 – Release of MalaCards version 1.03
Key goals for 2013 include:
-
Expansion of LifeMap Discovery™ to incorporate additional cell
and tissue types and associated gene expression signatures
-
Initiation of development of additional databases and services that
will leverage significant and growing web traffic
-
Submission of manuscripts to peer-reviewed scientific journals for
publication
-
Initiation of pay-per-view access to extensive microarray data on more
than a 100 cultured somatic cell types and on approximately 100 PureStem™
cell lines under several thousand differentiation conditions and their
relationship to the developing human
-
Platform enhancement of GeneCards® to enable
improved data update and data mining, and development of applications
for integrating GeneCards® and MalaCards data
with next-generation sequencing reports
-
Addition of new products for stem cell researchers to the LifeMap
BioReagents™ e-commerce portal
-
Enhanced therapeutic discovery collaboration with BioTime and
generation of several therapeutic product leads based on PureStem™
human stem-cell derived progenitors
“In recognition of the large and growing number of life sciences and
medical professionals using our database suite, we plan to roll out a
series of additional resources that will include subscription and
pay-for-use products. We will continue our support of academic
researchers with free products to meet their career and research needs,”
said David Warshawsky, PhD, CEO of LifeMap. “By leveraging our leading
resources and large user base, we look forward to realizing LifeMap’s
potential for significant revenue growth.”
“We are witnessing the unification of the fields of genomics, cell
biology, and medicine,” said Michael West, PhD, CEO of BioTime and Chief
Scientific Officer of LifeMap. “As a result, professionals in one field
increasingly require instant access to large amounts of data from the
other fields. LifeMap is fulfilling BioTime’s strategic goals, on the
one hand by generating near-term revenue to balance the longer-term
nature of our cell-based therapies, and on the other by building
foundational tools integral to the future of medicine.”
About LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
LifeMap Sciences’ (www.lifemapsc.com)
core technology and business is based on its integrated database suite,
the discovery platform for biomedical and stem-cell research. This
platform includes GeneCards®, the leading human gene
database; LifeMap Discovery™, the database of embryonic
development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine; and MalaCards,
the human disease database. LifeMap Sciences also markets PanDaTox,
an innovative, recently developed, searchable database that can aid in
the discovery of new antibiotics and biotechnologically beneficial
products.
In addition to database offerings, LifeMap Sciences is BioTime’s
principal internet marketing subsidiary for research products, including PureStem™
human progenitor cell lines, GMP human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines, ESpan™
growth media for progenitor cell lines, and cell differentiation media
for non-therapeutic uses, via its LifeMap BioReagents™ portal.
LifeMap Sciences utilizes its databases as part of its online marketing
strategy to reach life sciences researchers at biotech and
pharmaceutical companies and at academic institutions and research
hospitals worldwide.
In a therapeutic discovery collaboration with BioTime, LifeMap’s
scientists utilize LifeMap’s proprietary platform, including LifeMap
Discovery™, its stem cell database along with the GeneCards®
and MalaCards integrated database suite, to aid in the
development of BioTime’s proprietary PureStem™ human progenitor
cell lines into products for the treatment of human diseases, especially
degenerative diseases that might be treatable with cell replacement
therapies. The LifeMap Discovery™ platform will be used to select
the progenitor cell lines that are most likely to be useful in
developing cell-based regenerative medicine therapies for a wide range
of diseases.
About BioTime, Inc.
BioTime, headquartered in Alameda, California, is a biotechnology
company focused on regenerative medicine and blood plasma volume
expanders. Its broad platform of stem cell technologies is enhanced
through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of application. BioTime
develops and markets research products in the fields of stem cells and
regenerative medicine, including a wide array of proprietary PureStem™
cell lines, HyStem® hydrogels, culture media, and
differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia™ (formerly
known as HyStem®-Rx), a biocompatible,
implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for cell delivery in
human clinical applications. BioTime's therapeutic product development
strategy is pursued through subsidiaries that focus on specific organ
systems and related diseases for which there is a high unmet medical
need. BioTime's majority owned subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.
is developing therapeutic products derived from stem cells for the
treatment of retinal and neural degenerative diseases. BioTime's
subsidiary OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapeutic applications
of stem cells to treat orthopedic diseases and injuries. Another
subsidiary, OncoCyte Corporation, focuses on the diagnostic and
therapeutic applications of stem cell technology in cancer, including
the diagnostic product PanC-Dx™ currently being developed for the
detection of cancer in blood samples. ReCyte Therapeutics, Inc. is
developing applications of BioTime's proprietary induced pluripotent
stem cell technology to reverse the developmental aging of human cells
to treat cardiovascular and blood cell diseases. BioTime's subsidiary
LifeMap Sciences, Inc. markets GeneCards®, the leading
human gene database, as part of an integrated database suite that also
includes the LifeMap Discovery™ database of embryonic
development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine, and MalaCards,
the human disease database. LifeMap Sciences also markets BioTime
research products and PanDaTox, an innovative, recently
developed, searchable database that can aid in the discovery of new
antibiotics and biotechnologically beneficial products. BioTime
Acquisition Corporation is a new subsidiary being used to acquire the
stem cell assets of Geron Corporation, including patents and other
intellectual property, biological materials, reagents, and equipment for
the development of new therapeutic products for regenerative medicine.
BioTime's lead product, Hextend®, is a blood plasma
volume expander manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira,
Inc. and in South Korea by CJ CheilJedang Corporation under exclusive
licensing agreements. Additional information about BioTime can be
obtained at www.biotimeinc.com.
About the Weizmann Institute of Science and GeneCards
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the
world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for
its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the
Institute is home to 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. and
M.Sc. students, and scientific, technical and administrative staff. In
addition, visiting scientists and their families – over 500 from 35
countries in 2010 are regularly hosted at the Institute. The Institute
was founded in 1934 following a donation to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, a noted
biochemist and biotechnologist, who envisioned the establishment of a
world-class scientific research center in Israel, and later also became
the first President of the State of Israel. Weizmann Institute’s
Feinberg Graduate School was established in 1958, where about 1000 M.Sc.
and Ph.D. students are enrolled in studies covering the Institute’s 18
departments, which are grouped into five faculties: Biochemistry,
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics and Computer Science. The
Institute’s technology transfer arm, Yeda Research and Development Co.
was the first company of its kind in Israel, and is currently one of the
most successful worldwide. Institute research efforts include the search
for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions
in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and
the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for
protecting the environment. Particular excellence in bioinformatics and
systems biology is manifested, among others, in the GeneCards project,
initiated in 1996, under the leadership of Prof. Doron Lancet of the
Dept. of Molecular Genetics, Head of the Crown Human Genome Center. A
team of 10 led by Marilyn Safran continuously innovates and keeps
GeneCards as a world-top human gene compendium, automatically mining and
integrating 100 worldwide web resources.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements pertaining to future financial and/or operating results,
future growth in research, technology, clinical development, and
potential opportunities for BioTime and its subsidiaries, along with
other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans,
or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking
statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but
not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes,"
"plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates") should also be
considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks
inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential
products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory
approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of
intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from
the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such
should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the
business of BioTime and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned
in the cautionary statements found in BioTime's Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. BioTime disclaims any intent or obligation to update
these forward-looking statements.
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