SAN DIEGO, Oct. 2, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:FATE), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of adult stem cell modulators to treat orphan diseases, announced today that its Senior Vice President, Early Program Development, Dr. Peter Flynn, Ph.D., is scheduled to present at the 18th International World Muscle Society Congress (WMS) taking place in Asilomar, CA on October 1-5. Dr. Flynn will make his presentation during the Treatment Approaches for Muscular Dystrophy session at 11:00am PST on Friday, October 4.
Dr. Flynn's presentation will focus on the Company's preclinical program of its therapeutic analogs of Wnt7a, a naturally-occurring secreted protein which has been identified as a key regulator of skeletal muscle regeneration. The presentation will be posted on the Company's website at www.fatetherapeutics.com in the Investors & Media section, under Events & Presentations, after the session is completed.
About Our Proprietary Wnt7a Protein Analogs
Wnt7a is a natural promoter of muscle regeneration, and drives both muscle satellite stem cell (SSC) expansion and muscle hypertrophy. The Company has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of its proprietary Wnt7a analogs in various preclinical models. In rodent models of muscular dystrophy, the Company's Wnt7a analogs have been shown to expand the population of muscle SSCs, drive muscle hypertrophy, decrease disease-related muscle damage and increase muscle strength. Additionally, these proprietary Wnt7a analogs have been shown to drive hypertrophy in in vitro cultures of differentiated muscle cells derived from healthy human subjects and from human subjects with various forms of muscular dystrophies.
About Muscular Dystrophies
Muscular dystrophies encompass a group of rare diseases with diverse genetic bases and pathophysiological manifestations. The most prevalent and well-characterized forms are the X chromosome-linked Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies. A core pathophysiologic phenomenon seen in muscular dystrophies is a cycle of muscle degeneration leading to continuous compensatory muscle SSC activation and differentiation to affect a regenerative response. It is believed that the eventual exhaustion of this regenerative capacity results in accelerated tissue degeneration and, ultimately, significant loss of muscle function. Restoring the balance between muscle degeneration and regeneration to induce tissue repair may offer a promising approach for the treatment of muscular dystrophies, irrespective of the causative genetic mutation.
About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.
Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of pharmacologic modulators of adult stem cells to treat orphan diseases, including certain hematologic malignancies, lysosomal storage disorders and muscular dystrophies. The Company is presently advancing its lead product candidate, ProHema, a pharmacologically-modulated HSC therapeutic derived from umbilical cord blood, in Phase 2 clinical development for hematologic malignancies. Fate Therapeutics is also advancing its proprietary Wnt7a protein analogs in preclinical development for the treatment of muscular dystrophies. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit www.fatetherapeutics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements and Information
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the therapeutic potential of the Company's Wnt7a program, and its preclinical and clinical development plans. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk of cessation or delay of any ongoing or planned preclinical or clinical development activities, the risk that the results of previously conducted studies involving similar product candidates will not be repeated or observed in ongoing or future studies that we may conduct, and the risk that any one or more of our development programs or product candidates will not be successfully developed and commercialized. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the final prospectus related to our initial public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Fate Therapeutics undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.