SUNRISE, Fla., July 29, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bioheart, Inc. (OTCBB:BHRT) announced today that they have agreed to terms to enter into a license agreement with Airspeed Equity regarding four separate Bioheart patents. The proposed license agreement will have great benefits to both companies: Airspeed will be granted exclusive rights to these patents and all products associated with the patents. Airspeed will pay Bioheart milestone payments and royalties based on sales of potential products. Mike Tomas, President and CEO, stated, "Bioheart is currently focused on our core technology of muscle stem cells for congestive heart failure patients and we are excited about the opportunity to work with Airspeed to bring other Bioheart technologies to market."
The patents include methods of electrical stimulation and biological pacing which are marketed under the MyoStim™ product line. Howard Leonhardt, Bioheart's Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, stated, "The discovery that low voltage electrical stimulation of the heart can both regenerate damaged heart tissue and replace high voltage implantable defibrillators for arrhythmia fibrillation recovery may change the course of care for the more than 30 million patients suffering of heart failure worldwide."
"Bioheart's patents fit perfectly within our medical industry strategy. We are pleased Bioheart selected us to commercialize what we believe will be successful products that can improve people's lives," said Alan Remen, Managing Director, Airspeed Equity.
About Bioheart, Inc.
Bioheart is focused on completing the Phase II/III MARVEL study for chronic heart failure using MyoCell. The product candidate has been in clinical trials since May of 2001 with the goal of commercial approval with the current clinical program. There are approximately 130 more patients needed to complete the randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled MARVEL trial. In part one of the MARVEL trial, the performance of MyoCell was nearly 500% above its primary end point goal of 16 meters improvement in exercise capacity testing. MyoCell treated patients improved 91.7 meters while placebo patients declined 4 meters.
MyoCell is a muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the intended purpose of improving cardiac function and quality of life in chronic heart failure patients.
For more information on Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com/">http://www.bioheartinc.com.
About Airspeed Equity, LLC
Airspeed Equity is a private investment, entrepreneurial capital, management firm and leading edge, multi-project business development enterprise that creates and supports new technology companies.
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