On August 10, 2015 BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:BTX) reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 and provided a corporate update (Filing, 8-K, BioTime, AUG 10, 2015, View Source [SID:1234507131]).

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"BioTime’s management team has sharpened its focus on our high priority programs," said Dr. Michael D. West, BioTime’s Chief Executive Officer. "Our strategy for achieving the leadership role in regenerative medicine includes: continuing to advance the ongoing clinical trials of our products that are expected to address large unmet patient needs, collaborating with high-quality corporate partners and leading academic medical institutions, financial de-risking by leveraging various sources of non-dilutive financing, adding experienced biopharma executives to our teams at both BioTime and our subsidiaries, and progressively unlocking shareholder value in our subsidiaries. We continue to make progress with our several clinical programs in cell therapies, cell delivery matrices, and cancer diagnostics."

2015 Highlights

Through the second quarter, BioTime and its subsidiaries have reported the following progress on key products and programs.

Cell Therapies

Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd.

Cell Cure Neurosciences, Ltd. (Cell Cure Neurosciences) is currently enrolling patients at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, in a clinical Phase I/IIa dose-escalation study evaluating the safety and efficacy of OpRegen for geographic atrophy (GA), the severe stage of the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (dry-AMD). Dry-AMD represents nearly 90% of AMD prevalence and currently has no FDA-approved therapy. The Phase I/IIa clinical trial is designed with four cohorts and allows for interim data readouts.

Cell Cure Neurosciences presented preclinical efficacy data for its lead product candidate, OpRegen at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in May. The findings demonstrated the product’s potential to preserve vision and retinal structure when transplanted into the leading animal model of retinal disease.
In May, Cell Cure Neurosciences was awarded a grant for 2015 of 6.24 million shekels (approximately $1.61 million) from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) to help finance the development of OpRegen. The OCS has previously supported Cell Cure Neurosciences, providing grants totaling approximately $8.0 million to date in non-dilutive funding.
Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: AST)

Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Asterias) promoted Edward Wirth, M.D., Ph.D. to Chief Medical Officer.
In June, Asterias announced that the first patient had been dosed at the Atlanta-based Shepherd Center in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial evaluating the activity of escalating amounts of AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells) in newly injured patients with sensory and motor complete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). The Phase I/IIa trial is part of the planned registration program for AST-OPC1, with neurologically complete cervical SCI as the first targeted indication.

Also in June, Asterias announced positive long-term follow-up data from a Phase II clinical trial of AST-VAC1 in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The results showed that more than 50% of those who received AST-VAC1 had prolonged relapse-free survival, even patients with high-risk AML, including those over 60 years of age and patients in second remission. The data were presented during an oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) in May.
Asterias was added to the Russell 3000, Russell Global, and Russell Microcap Indexes on June 26, 2015 as part of Russell Investments’ annual reconstitution of its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes. The Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and they serve as benchmarks for passive and active investment strategies.

During the second quarter, Asterias raised a total of $14.5 million in aggregate gross proceeds through various private and public offerings, as well as receiving $1.1 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in accordance with a quarterly disbursement schedule under the $14.3 million grant award related to the AST-OPC1 development program. Year-to-date payments from CIRM total $3.3 million in non-dilutive funding.
Cell Delivery Matrices

Earlier this year, BioTime announced the successful treatment of the first patient in the Company’s pivotal clinical trial in Europe of Renevia for HIV-associated lipoatrophy, which was chosen as the clearest regulatory pathway as the first indication. Patient enrollment is ongoing with completion of enrollment in the trial expected by early next year. Renevia, BioTime’s proprietary cell delivery matrix, is specifically designed to facilitate the stable engraftment and proliferation of transplanted cells.
The results of the Renevia trial could ultimately lead to a submission in 2016 for CE Mark approval in Europe for the treatment of HIV-associated facial lipoatrophy. Positive outcomes of this trial could greatly accelerate the potential development of future therapeutics for other lipoatrophy-related conditions, as well as the potential to expand the use of BioTime’s cell delivery matrices for a number of additional cell types.
Cancer Diagnostics Platform

OncoCyte Corporation

William Annett was named Chief Executive Officer of OncoCyte Corporation (OncoCyte) on June 16, 2015. Bill has extensive experience as a CEO of diagnostics companies and as an executive with Genentech and Accenture, among other companies. His deep experience with product commercialization at leading companies is of particular importance as OncoCyte prepares to launch its first liquid biopsy cancer diagnostic test, currently scheduled for 2016.

OncoCyte also reported positive results from its proprietary, non-invasive, liquid biopsies diagnostics at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) for bladder and breast cancer and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) for lung cancer diagnostics.
OncoCyte announced the appointment of Andrew Arno to its Board of Directors on July 15, 2015. Mr. Arno’s depth of experience in the capital markets, as well as advising emerging companies is expected to greatly benefit the company.
Additional Updates

LifeMap Solutions, Inc.

LifeMap Solutions, Inc. (LifeMap Solutions) continues to extend its lead as the premier commercial entity building on the new ResearchKit software framework developed by Apple, Inc. As previously announced in the first quarter, LifeMap Solutions launched the Asthma Health app. Asthma Health serves as the interface for participants in a large-scale medical asthma research study with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In the second quarter, the Company posted initial user-behavior findings to the official ResearchKit blog; these initial findings showed the app’s user-retention numbers to be comparable to those of top-charting apps like social networks.

In collaboration with the Mount Sinai – National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute, the Company has also developed a clinical-care app that empowers Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients to manage their condition under the oversight of a physician. This app, COPD Navigator, continues in its pilot program at Mount Sinai. The company has announced that it will build additional clinical-care apps to manage different chronic conditions.

Patents

In the first half of 2015, BioTime was notified of the issuance of 27 new patents that add to over 700 patents and patent applications filed world wide and licensed or owned by the BioTime family of companies in the field of regenerative medicine. The new patents, either issued or licensed to BioTime or certain of its subsidiaries, includes seven U.S. patents, as well as twenty additional patents issued in Europe, Japan, Canada and Singapore.
Financial Results

Revenue

BioTime’s operating revenues are currently generated from research grants, licensing fees and royalties from the sale of Hextend, and advertising from the marketing of the LifeMap Sciences, Inc.’s (LifeMap Sciences) online database products, and from the sale of hydrogels and stem cell products for research.

Total consolidated revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2015, on a consolidated basis, total revenues were $3.3 million, up $1.1 million or 50% from $2.2 million for the same period one year ago. The increase in revenues is primarily attributable to a $0.9 million increase in grant income primarily from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist and CIRM.

Expenses

Consolidated operating expenses for the second quarter were $15.2 million, compared to $13.9 million for the same period in 2014. General and administrative (G&A) expenses for the second quarter were $6.2 million, compared to $4.8 million in the second quarter a year ago. The $1.4 million increase is in part a result of increased staffing at Asterias and at LifeMap Solutions.

Operating expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2015 were $29.7 million, compared to expenses of $26.0 million for the same period of 2014. Excluding Asterias’ operating expense of $10.8 million, BioTime’s expenses alone total $18.9 million. The increase in operating expenses is primarily attributable to increase in staffing and increased expenditures in the Asterias, OncoCyte, and LifeMap Solutions product development programs offset in part by a reduction in development expenses in BioTime’s HyStem hydrogel and the OrthoCyte and ReCyte Therapeutics product development programs.

Net Loss

Net loss attributable to BioTime for the three months ended June 30, 2015 was $9.7 million, including deferred income tax benefits of $1.3 million. For the same period in 2014, net loss was $9.5 million, including deferred income tax benefits of $1.5 million. On a per share basis, net loss for the second quarter in 2015 was $0.12 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.16 per share for the same period in 2014.

Net loss attributable to BioTime common shareholders for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $19.9 million or $0.25 per share, compared to a net loss of $17.6 million or $0.29 per share per share for the same period in 2014. The increase in net loss is primarily attributed to increased expenditures in the Asterias, OncoCyte, and LifeMap Solutions product development programs offset in part by a reduction in development expenses in BioTime’s HyStem hydrogel and the OrthoCyte and ReCyte Therapeutics product development programs. This increase is to some extent offset by the $2.4 million income tax benefit recorded as of June 30, 2015 and $2.9 million in the same period in 2014.

Net losses attributable to BioTime include losses from BioTime majority owned subsidiaries based upon BioTime’s percentage ownership of those subsidiaries.

Balance Sheet and Subsequent Financing Events

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $31.5 million as of June 30, 2015, compared to $29.5 million as of December 31, 2014. The cash on hand as of June 30, 2015 includes $21.2 million held by Asterias and other subsidiaries.

During the six months ended June 30, 2015, BioTime and certain of its subsidiaries raised approximately $24.0 million of additional equity capital and $5.2 million in non-dilutive funding as follows:

Asterias

$2.8 million gross proceeds from the sale of Asterias AST common stock in "at-the-market" transactions;
$5.5 million in aggregate gross proceeds from the public offering and concurrent private placement of Asterias’ common stock;
$11.7 million from the exercise of 5,000,000 outstanding Asterias common share purchase warrants originally issued in June 2014;
$3.3 million in non-dilutive funding from CIRM.
BioTime

$621,000 from the exercise of BioTime options by employees.
Cell Cure Neurosciences

$1.9 million in non-dilutive funding from the OCS.
OncoCyte

$3.3 million from the sale of 3,000,000 of OncoCyte common stock to long-term OncoCyte investors.