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30M U.S. adults suffer from diabetes and 93M from obesity, with
associated medical costs of over $300B annually, necessitating an
urgent need for novel treatments
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AgeX-BAT1 for Type II diabetes and obesity aims to return brown
adipose tissue, also known as “brown” or “good” fat, back to levels
found in young adults
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Loss of brown fat as a result of aging is associated with obesity and
Type II diabetes as well as heightened cardiovascular risk
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Published data shows that AgeX’s pioneering PureStem® cell
therapy manufacturing platform generated highly pure, identifiable and
scalable brown adipose cells, expressing active adipokines such as
adiponectin
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2019--
AgeX
Therapeutics
, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) announced today the
publication of data relating to its cell therapy product candidate
AgeX-BAT1 for Type II diabetes and obesity in the peer-reviewed
scientific journal
Stem
Cell Research & Therapy
. Scientists now realize that the
activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), also known as “brown” or “good”
fat, is markedly lost with age. This loss may contribute to metabolic
disturbances seen in Type II diabetes and obesity as well as a
heightened cardiovascular risk. AgeX-BAT1
is comprised of regenerative cells capable of becoming BAT and is
intended to return BAT levels back to those found in young adults. AgeX
is targeting Type II diabetes and obesity as they are areas of high
unmet medical need and present multi-billion-dollar market opportunities.
As described in the paper, “Clonal Derivation of White and Brown
Adipocyte Progenitor Cell Lines from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells,” two
AgeX-BAT1 cell lines, designated NP88 and NP110, were selected for
detailed characterization. The data demonstrate AgeX’s PureStem®
cell therapy manufacturing platform was successful in generating highly
purified cells with precise anatomical identity, and most importantly,
capable of potently expressing definitive markers of BAT cells,
including active adipokines such as adiponectin. Adiponectin is reported
to have beneficial effects in patients with age-related metabolic and
cardiovascular diseases. In addition, the paper provides evidence that
AgeX’s PureStem® technology allows for the reliable
re-derivation of scalable lots of desired cells.
“In keeping with AgeX’s mandate to use regenerative biology to reverse
the degenerative aspects of aging, AgeX-BAT1 will address one of the
insidious age-related metabolic imbalances responsible for age-related
weight gain as well as other serious age-related conditions such as Type
II diabetes and its ensuing cardiovascular risk,” said Michael D. West,
Ph.D., Founder and CEO of AgeX, and lead author of the published study.
“It is estimated that 30 million U.S. adults have diabetes, the
overwhelming majority of the cases being Type II, and that number is
rapidly on the rise as a result of the aging demographic. AgeX-BAT1
could potentially provide an important and novel therapeutic strategy
for managing the epidemic of metabolic imbalances such as Type II
diabetes in aging.”
"Few medical conditions are as prevalent as age-related metabolic
imbalances, which carry along with them serious risks, including
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, blindness, amputations, and cancer,”
said Dr. Annalisa Jenkins, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P., a member of the AgeX
Board of Directors. "Whilst dieting and exercise are beneficial, most
people find them difficult to adhere to. To meet this high unmet medical
need, we need new approaches, such as AgeX-BAT1.”
Dr. West will discuss the paper as part of his presentation
at Biotech Showcase, being held concurrently with the 2019 J.P. Morgan
Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Details of Dr. West’s
presentation follow:
Date: Wednesday, January 9
Time: 9:00AM PST
Track: Yosemite-A
(Ballroom Level)
Venue: Hilton San Francisco Union Square,
333 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, Calif.
Authors on the paper are Michael West, Dana Larocca, Jie Li, Jianjie
Jiang, Pamela Sim, Ivan Labat, and Hal Sternberg of AgeX; Ching-Fang
Chang and Andreas Stahl of the University of California, Berkeley; Karen
B. Chapman of Johns Hopkins University; Kari E. Wong of Metabolon, Inc.;
James Nicoll and Michael J. Van Kanegan of Zen-BIO, Inc.; Aubrey de Grey
of AgeX and the SENS Research Foundation; and Igor Nasonkin of BioTime,
Inc.
The paper is available online,
and additional information on AgeX-BAT1, including an introductory video,
is available on AgeX’s website at www.agexinc.com.
About AgeX-BAT1
The activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), or “brown fat”, is abundant
early in life, but is lost precipitously with age. This tissue is
believed to generate heat using blood glucose and circulating fat. The
abundance of this tissue in the young is believed to keep metabolism in
balance. Its loss with age is understood to lead to weight gain, central
obesity, accumulation of fat in the coronary arteries, and Type II
diabetes.
The demonstration that the transplantation of BAT from young mice to
obese diabetic mice results in improvements in both weight and insulin
sensitivity has led to a search for a source of industrially-scalable
clinical grade BAT cells to recreate youthful levels of the tissue in
old age.
AgeX plans to use HyStem® as a matrix to support the
engraftment of AgeX-BAT1 cells. HyStem® is a matrix
previously used in clinical trials by BioTime, Inc. for lipotransfer.
About AgeX Therapeutics
AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AGE) is focused on developing
and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem®
and UniverCyte™ manufacturing and immunotolerance
technologies are designed to work together to generate highly defined,
universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young
cells of any type for application in a whole host of diseases with a
high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs:
AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1
(brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeX’s revolutionary longevity
platform named induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR™) aims to unlock
cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related
changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in
preclinical development. HyStem® is AgeX’s delivery
technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies and slowly release
iTR molecules in the body. AgeX is aggressively developing its core
product pipeline for use in the clinic to extend human healthspan, and
is seeking opportunities to form licensing and partnership agreements
around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms for
non-core clinical applications.
For more information, please visit www.agexinc.com
or connect with the company on Twitter,
Facebook
and
YouTube
.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in
this release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
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 AgeX
Therapeutics, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in
the cautionary statements found in more detail in the “Risk Factors”
section of AgeX’s Information Statement filed as an exhibit to its
Registration Statement on Form 10 with the Securities and Exchange
Commissions (copies of which may be obtained at www.sec.gov).
Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking
statements to change. AgeX specifically disclaims any obligation or
intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a
result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of
this release, except as required by applicable law.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190109005309/en/
Source: AgeX Therapeutics
for AgeX:
Bill Douglass
Gotham Communications, LLC
bill@gothamcomm.com
(646)
504-0890