By HEATHER CHAMBERS / San Diego Daily Transcript
Monday, January 8, 2007 International Stem Cell Corp., an early-stage stem cell therapeutics company, said it will add scientists to its newly-formed Oceanside headquarters.
The news came on the heels of an announcement that the company had completed a reverse merger with Argyle, Texas-based holding company BTHC III Inc.
As a result of the merger, International Stem Cell shareholders were issued 33,111,502 shares of BTHC's common stock in exchange for their shares of International Stem Cell. The company completed $11.2 million in private placement of its capital stock and became a wholly owned subsidiary of BTHC.
International Stem Cell opened an 8,000-square-foot Oceanside facility in July, at 2595 Jason Court, intended to serve as its new headquarters for research and development and manufacturing processes.
Company CEO Jeff Krstich said its research and development laboratories were "up and running" but it was in the process of transferring its manufacturing abilities.
"As we go into our manufacturing facility, we could very well go from the three or four people we have now to 20-plus people potentially," Krstich said. International Stem Cell is attempting to bring "unlimited numbers" of therapeutic-grade human cells to the market for the treatment of degenerative diseases using embryonic stem cell technologies.
The company is in the preclinical trial stage, with a focus on creating cells for three areas: diabetes, liver disease and retinal diseases.
"We know cellular transplantation therapy works in those areas," Krstich said. "What isn't available is the amount of cells to make those therapies available."
The company said it is launching animal trials to "demonstrate the ability of retinal cells derived from its proprietary lines of human embryonic stem cells to replace cells harvested from cadavers or donors in the treatment of macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa."
The company said it expected to begin human trials in the first half of 2007. Similar trials of pancreatic islet cells for the treatment of diabetes are planned for the future, it said.
Krstich said the company is negotiating some local partnerships, but declined to elaborate on what they involve.
Its former headquarters were located in Los Angeles, and Krstich said the decision to move was based on poor initial planning and an abundance of biotech knowledge in San Diego.
"We think that San Diego is not only a great place to live, but to develop a biotech business," he said.
The company had been leasing a La Jolla facility for its R&D, although Krstich said it was intended as a temporary location. The company said it will retain its production and product development facility in Walkersville, Md., where it manufactures media and reagents products at a subsidiary company called Lifeline Cell Technology.
Lifeline has a license from Advanced Cell Technology, a Worcester, Mass.-based biotech company.
International research facilities exist in Moscow, and Krstich said the company will draw some of its Russian scientists to Oceanside.
"It's amazing to talk about a sort of reverse brain drain," Krstich said. "Stem cell research fled the country and now it's coming back in and we think we'll be the one that draws scientists back to the U.S., and, more specifically, back to California, and, even more specifically, back to San Diego."
The company trades on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board under the symbol BTHC, although an unidentified symbol change is pending. Shares of International Stem Cell closed at $2.50 recently on the OTCBB. |