Biopharmaceutical Executive Dr. Alan Lewis Appointed as CEO of Medistem

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medistem Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MEDS) announced today appointment of Dr. Alan Lewis to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board. Since January, Dr. Lewis has been functioning in the capacity of Scientific Advisory Board Member for Medistem.

“Dr. Thomas Ichim is assuming the role as the company’s President and Chief Scientific Officer.”

“We are enthusiastic that Dr. Lewis is taking the helm to help accelerate clinical development of the Endometrial Regenerative Cell (ERC) universal donor stem cell product, which is already in Phase I and Phase II studies for critical limb ischemia and congestive heart failure, respectively,” said Dr. Vladimir Bogin, Chairman of Medistem. “Dr. Thomas Ichim is assuming the role as the company’s President and Chief Scientific Officer.”

Dr. Lewis spent 15 years at the pharmaceutical company Wyeth-Ayerst, where he was Vice President of Research, leading translational research efforts in diabetes, CNS, cardiovascular, inflammatory, allergy and bone metabolism diseases. He subsequently became CEO of Signal Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company that he successfully merged with Celgene. He became CEO of Novocell Inc (Viacyte) and subsequently served as CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the largest research funding body for diabetes. Most recently he was CEO of Ambit Biosciences. He currently serves on the board of BioMarin (BMRN) and a number of private biotechnology companies.

“To date the Medistem team has demonstrated remarkable accomplishments by taking a stem cell from discovery to FDA clearance in the short span of 4 years, thus positioning the company as having the longest patent life among clinical-stage stem cell companies,” said Dr. Lewis. “In contrast to other types of stem cells, Medistem’s ERC appears to be the most potent at stimulating production of new blood vessels. In addition, ERC’s proven ability to differentiate into multiple tissue types has a potential to treat numerous indications.”

Medistem has licensed intellectual property from Yale University related to using ERC to treat Type 1 Diabetes, which the company plans to develop into its third area of clinical trials.

About Medistem Inc.

Medistem Inc. is a biotechnology company developing technologies related to adult stem cell extraction, manipulation, and use for treating inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The company's lead product, the endometrial regenerative cell (ERC), is a "universal donor" stem cell being developed for critical limb ischemia and congestive heart failure. A publication describing the support for use of ERC for this condition may be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-6-45.pdf. ERC can be purchased for scientific use through Medistem's collaborator, General Biotechnology http://www.gnrlbiotech.com/?page=catalog_endometrial_regenerative_cells.

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