BioCardia Announces Issuance of Chinese Patent for Image-Guided Biotherapeutic Delivery

SAN CARLOS, Calif., June 12, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioCardia^®, Inc. BCDA, a leader in the development of comprehensive solutions for cardiovascular regenerative therapies, today announced that the China National Intellectual Property Administration has recently issued the Company Patent No: ZL 2014 8 00125575 for "Target Site Selection, Entry and Update with Automatic Image Annotation," with a term to January 7, 2034.

The patent describes the use of software that merges images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) with fluoroscopic imaging to plan, document and deliver cell, gene, protein and other therapies using interventional catheter systems. The image-guided technology is designed to enable real time tracking and measurement of therapy delivery, where practitioners can create delivery targets, change orientation, identify regions to avoid, and change course intra-procedure to optimize outcomes.

The Company has patents pending for image-guided technology in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

"We are enthusiastic about the potential of this technology to significantly enhance how therapy is delivered without adding procedure time," said BioCardia CEO Peter Altman, PhD. "Working with a highly respected academic partner who has published groundbreaking work on this approach, we will focus on realizing the technology once we have an approved therapeutic product in CardiAMP™ cell therapy that will benefit from it."

He continued, "We continue to see great promise in our unique approach based on enabling platform intellectual property that bridges the historical silos of biotherapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and now, imaging, to benefit both patients and physicians."

About BioCardia^®
BioCardia, Inc., headquartered in San Carlos, California, is developing regenerative biologic therapies to treat cardiovascular disease. CardiAMP™ and CardiALLO™ cell therapies are the Company's biotherapeutic product candidates in clinical development. The Company's current products include the Helix™ Biotherapeutic Delivery System and the Morph® steerable guide and sheath catheter portfolio, including the new AVANCE™ Steerable Introducer family. BioCardia also partners with other biotherapeutic companies to provide its Helix systems and clinical support to their programs studying therapies for the treatment of heart failure, chronic myocardial ischemia and acute myocardial infarction.

Forward Looking Statements 
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to many risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, our ability to develop and secure regulatory approval for the imaging system described in the issued patent, its ability to enhance therapies, whether or not it adds to procedure times, whether or not it is a valuable tool, and whether or not physicians will enjoy using it in their daily practice, and statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with developing new products or technologies,  FDA regulatory approvals, unexpected expenditures, the ability to raise the additional funding needed to continue to pursue BioCardia's business and product development plans and overall market conditions.  These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and BioCardia assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements.

We may use terms such as "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should," "approximately" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained herein, we caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this press release will prove to be accurate.  Additional factors that could materially affect actual results can be found in BioCardia's Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2019, including under the caption titled "Risk Factors." BioCardia expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. 

Media Contact:
Michelle McAdam, Chronic Communications, Inc.
michelle@chronic-comm.com
(310) 902-1274

Investor Contact:
David McClung, Chief Financial Officer
Investors@BioCardia.com
(650) 226-0120