Mesoblast Acquires Culture Expanded Stem Cell Therapeutic Business from Osiris

Mesoblast Limited MBLTY today announced the acquisition of the entire culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) business of Osiris Therapeutics OSIR by the Mesoblast Group. "The many commercial and strategic benefits of this transaction firm Mesoblast's leadership position in the global regenerative medicine industry," said Mesoblast Chief Executive Officer Professor Silviu Itescu. The benefits derived from acquiring the approved and late-phase MSC products include: near term market launch of a mesenchymal lineage product in major jurisdictions; broadened late-phase clinical programs in strategic areas of focus; and leveraged roll out of infrastructure, skills and expertise needed to commercialize Mesenchymal Precursor Cell (MPC) products. "Importantly, in 2014 we plan to have active products in Phase 3 clinical trials in all four core major therapeutic areas of focus: cardiovascular medicine (congestive heart failure), inflammatory/immune diseases (Crohn's disease), orthopedics (spinal fusion and intervertebral disc repair) and oncology (acute Graft versus Host Disease, and cord blood expansion in bone marrow transplantation)." Existing cash reserves are sufficient to meet current and new product development plans. Cost savings and other synergies are expected across personnel, capital expenditure, and manufacturing, and as a result there will only be a modest See full press release