Bioheart Announces Plans to Launch Clinical Trials in Europe and the USA for Second-generation Cell Therapy for Treating Advanced Heart Failure

Four Years of Sponsored Animal Studies At Cleveland Clinic and the University
of Florida Have Demonstrated That Second-generation Cell Therapy, MyoCell(r)
SDF-1, Provides Double the Level of Improvement as the First-generation
MyoCell(r) Composition 

SUNRISE, Fla., Jan. 13, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT)
announced today that it plans to conduct clinical trials for its
second-generation MyoCell SDF-1 myogenic cell composition for treating advanced
heart failure. The company believes that it may be able to fund these trials to
a large extent with grant funding, which will be non-dilutive to the company's
investors. Earlier this year, Bioheart approached the National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to discuss the possibility
of their Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network Centers to participate in
these new clinical trials. 

MyoCell SDF-1 is a composition of myogenic stem cells derived from a patient's
own thigh muscle that has been modified to over express the SDF-1 protein. The
product candidate is prepared with an 18-step proprietary method in Bioheart's
cGMP laboratories. Utilizing a needle-tipped catheter inserted into the groin
of a patient who is suffering from heart failure, the cells are injected into
the scar tissue that has formed in the patient's heart. The goal of MyoCell
SDF-1 is to grow new contractile muscle within the scar tissue that will have
the ability to release additional beneficial proteins to assist in the tissue
repair process and improve the patient's heart function, exercise capacity and
quality of life. In animal studies, MyoCell SDF-1 provided a 54 percent
improvement of heart function compared to 27 percent for the original MyoCell
composition while the placebo control treated animals declined by 10 percent. 

The company filed an IND application with the FDA last year and is near
completing the additional studies suggested by the FDA to move the MyoCell
SDF-1 into clinical trials in the USA. The U.S. trial is expected to begin this
year. After completing a 15-patient dose escalation safety protocol study with
one-month follow-up, the company hopes to transition this second-generation
product into its FDA-authorized Phase II/III MARVEL study, currently active at
35 centers in the USA. MyoCell SDF-1 is substantially similar to the original
MyoCell composition that has been active in clinical trials since early 2001 at
more than 50 centers worldwide. The company has also begun the appropriate
regulatory filings to initiate MyoCell SDF-1 clinical studies in Europe and
other foreign countries. This quarter, the company has filed or will be filing
in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Singapore, Brazil and Korea. 

Bioheart expects a new state-of-the-art cGMP cell culture facility in Seoul,
Korea, with capacity to culture more than 1,800 patients a month, to be up and
running in 1Q 2009. This facility, 18% owned by Bioheart, was designed by NNE
Pharmaplan, Denmark, is heralded as the most advanced cell culture and
biologics manufacturing operation in the world. This facility will be additive
to Bioheart's cGMP facility at its headquarters in Sunrise, Florida, and to the
contract facility in Maastricht, the Netherlands, which Bioheart has engaged
with Pharmacell. 

"All the data gathered over many years supports moving the MyoCell SDF-1
composition to clinical trials at this time to serve advanced heart failure
patients who are facing worse than 50 percent risk of death within three
years," said Dr. Marc Penn, Medtronic Bakken Chair of Research, Cleveland
Clinic. "These patients desperately need something better, and this composition
has a chance to be it." 

"Bioheart is committed to continuous improvement of our products and services,"
said Howard J. Leonhardt, chairman, CEO and CTO of Bioheart. "Years of work by
many team members have led to this milestone development. We believe, more so
than ever before, that we represent the best hope for the more than 25 million
people suffering of heart failure worldwide." 

The patents Bioheart has acquired covering the myogenic cells and SDF-1
compositions and methods are expected to provide intellectual property
protection until 2023. 

About Bioheart, Inc. 

Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT) is committed to delivering intelligent devices and
biologics that help monitor, diagnose and treat heart failure and
cardiovascular diseases. Its goals are to improve a patient's quality of life
and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations. Specific to biotechnology,
Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory
approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of
chronic and acute heart damage. Its lead product candidate, MyoCell(r), is an
innovative clinical muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate
regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the
purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. The
Company's pipeline includes multiple product candidates for the treatment of
heart damage, including Bioheart Acute Cell Therapy, an autologous, adipose
tissue-derived stem cell treatment for acute heart damage, and MyoCell SDF-1, a
therapy utilizing autologous cells that are genetically modified to express
additional potentially therapeutic growth proteins. For more information on
Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com. 

MyoCell and MyoCell SDF-1 are trademarks of Bioheart, Inc. 

Forward-Looking Statements: 

Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press
release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the
generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan,"
"expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or
"continue," or the negative other variations thereof, or comparable terminology
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. 

Investors and others are cautioned that a variety of factors, including certain
risks, may affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially
from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These risk factors
include, without limitation, (i) our ability to obtain additional financing;
(ii) our ability to control and reduce our expenses; (iii) our ability to
establish a distribution network for and commence distribution of certain
products for which we have acquired distribution rights; (iv) our ability to
timely and successfully complete our clinical trials; (v) the occurrence of any
unacceptable side effects during or after preclinical and clinical testing of
our product candidates; (vi) the timing of and our ability to obtain and
maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates; (vii) our dependence
on the success of our lead product candidate; (viii) our inability to predict
the extent of our future losses or if or when we will become profitable; (ix)
our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; and (x) intense
competition. The Company is also subject to the risks and uncertainties
described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2007, as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A and
its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June
30, 2008 and September 30, 2008. 

CONTACT:  Bioheart, Inc.
          Howard Leonhardt, Chief Executive Officer
          954-835-1500

          RedChip Companies, Inc.
          Bioheart Investor Relations:
          Brad Kline
          800-733-2447, Ext. 113
          info@redchip.com