CLEVELAND, Ohio, Dec. 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Athersys, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHX) announced that effective today its common stock will commence trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market. The stock previously traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "AHYS".
"Today's announcement, combined with the continued progress in our programs for obesity, cardiovascular disease, and bone marrow transplant, marks another important step for us in our growth," said Gil Van Bokkelen, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Athersys. "This NASDAQ listing will make Athersys more visible and will benefit our shareholders by enabling more efficient trading in the Company's common stock."
NASDAQ is the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, its systems trade more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology.
Athersys' lead product candidate, ATHX-105 currently in a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of obesity, works by a well understood and extensively validated biological mechanism. ATHX-105 specifically targets the 5HT2c (serotonin) receptor in the brain, shown to play a key role in regulating appetite and food intake. Its high selectivity for the 5HT2c receptor is believed to avoid the adverse effects of the highly effective obesity therapy Redux, part of the "fen-phen" combination, which also targeted the 5HT2c receptor. In pre-clinical studies, administration of ATHX-105 has resulted in robust weight loss while demonstrating a consistent safety profile. Phase I clinical trial results are expected in the first quarter of 2008.
In addition to its lead obesity program, Athersys recently announced that it has received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Investigational New Drug, MultiStem(r), to proceed to a Phase I clinical trial evaluating the safety of MultiStem administration in support of bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of certain cancers of the blood and immune system. MultiStem cells are proprietary adult stem cells derived from bone marrow, which have the demonstrated ability to form a wide range of cell types. The Company believes that MultiStem has broad potential in a number of indications based on its multiple mechanisms of action, its ability to be delivered "off-the-shelf" like a pharmaceutical product, and its safety and effectiveness that have been demonstrated in pre-clinical studies.
About Athersys, Inc.
Athersys is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutic product candidates designed to extend and enhance the quality of human life. The company's lead product candidate, ATHX-105, is an oral, selective 5HT2c receptor agonist in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of obesity. The company is also developing other orally active pharmaceutical product candidates for the treatment of metabolic and central nervous system disorders, utilizing proprietary technologies, including Random Activation of Gene Expression (RAGE). Athersys is developing MultiStem(r), its patented, adult-derived "off the shelf" stem cell product platform, for multiple disease indications, including damage caused by myocardial infarction, bone marrow transplantation/oncology support, ischemic stroke and other indications.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the expected timetable for development of our product candidates, our growth strategy, and our future financial performance, including our operations, economic performance, financial condition, prospects, and other future events. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by using such words as "anticipates," "believes," "can," "continue," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential," "should," "will," or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and are largely based on our current expectations. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could affect the accuracy of these statements. Some of the more significant known risks that we face are the risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of discovering, developing, and commercializing products that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, including the uncertainty regarding market acceptance of our product candidates and our ability to generate revenues. These risks may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Other important factors to consider in evaluating our forward-looking statements include: the possibility of delays in, adverse results of, and excessive costs of the development process; changes in external market factors; changes in our industry's overall performance; changes in our business strategy; our ability to protect our intellectual property portfolio; our possible inability to realize commercially valuable discoveries in our collaborations with pharmaceutical and other biotechnology companies; our possible inability to execute our strategy due to changes in our industry or the economy generally; changes in productivity and reliability of suppliers; and the success of our competitors and the emergence of new competitors. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.