Celyad to Address US Institutional Investors in January at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference

MONT-SAINT-GUIBERT, Belgium, Dec. 23, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Celyad (Euronext Brussels:CYAD) (Paris:CYAD) (NASDAQ:CYAD), a leader in the discovery and development of engineered cell therapies, with clinical programs in cardiovascular disease and immuno-oncology, today announced its participation to the 34^th  edition of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference which will be held from 11 to 15 January 2016 in San Francisco.

The J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference is the largest and most informative healthcare investment conference. This conference attracts a broad range of US-based analysts and institutional investors.

Celyad will meet with US investors and potential partners and share with them its on-going development programs and strategic vision for the future.

Patrick Jeanmart, CFO of Celyad: “2015 was once more rich in events for our company. From the clinical point of view, we completed the European Phase III clinical trial of C-Cure® and started a Phase I clinical trial in our immuno-oncology platform with NKG2D CAR-T cells. From a financial point of view, we did our IPO on NASDAQ which allowed us to raise USD 100,1 million The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is an excellent opportunity to present Celyad’s potential and strategic vision to new investors in view of increasing the visibility and the awareness of our Company towards large institutional investors.”

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About Celyad

Founded in 2007, and based in Belgium, Celyad is a leader in engineered cell therapy with clinical programs initially targeting indications in cardiology and oncology. Celyad is developing its lead cardiovascular disease product candidate, C-Cure®, for the treatment of ischemic heart failure, and has completed enrollment of a Phase III trial in Europe and Israel. In addition, the Company is developing a novel portfolio of CAR T-cell therapies that utilize human Natural Killer cell receptors for the treatment of numerous blood and solid cancers. Its lead oncology product candidate, NKG2D CAR T-cell, entered a Phase I clinical trial in April 2015.

Celyad’s ordinary shares are listed on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CYAD and Celyad’s American Depositary Shares are listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol CYAD.

To learn more about Celyad, please visit www.celyad.com

About CAR-NKG2D

Celyad’s lead immuno-oncology product candidate, CAR-NKG2D, is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-Cell autologous therapy to treat cancer. The CAR technology developed by Celyad uses human natural killer cell (NK cell) receptor which, unlike traditional CAR technologies such as those targeting the CD19 antigen, has the potential to target ligands present on a broad range of solid tumors and blood cancers.

The research underlying this technology was originally conducted by Dartmouth College Professor Charles Sentman, and has been published in numerous peer-reviewed publications such as Journal of Immunology in 2009, Cancer Research in 2006, and Blood in 2005. CAR-NKG2D has an active Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA for a Phase I clinical trial in certain hematologic cancers.

CAR-NKG2D entered a Phase I clinical trial in April 2015.  The full data readout from the Phase I dose escalation trial is expected in mid-2016.  The trial is designed to assess the safety and feasibility of NKG2D CAR T-cell in certain acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma patients as primary endpoints, with secondary endpoints including clinical efficacy.

About C-Cure®

Celyad’s C-Cure therapy involves taking stem cells from a patient’s own bone marrow and through a proprietary process called Cardiopoiesis, re-programming those cells to become heart cells. The cells, known as cardiopoietic cells, are then injected back into the patient’s heart through a minimally invasive procedure, with the aim of repairing damaged tissue and improving heart function and patient clinical outcomes. C-Cure is the outcome of multiple years of research conducted at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota, USA), Celyad (Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium) and Cardiovascular Centre in Aalst (Aalst, Belgium).

Forward looking statements

In addition to historical facts or statements of current condition, this press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the potential safety and feasibility of NKG2D CAR T-cell therapy and C-Cure and the clinical potential of the Company’s technology platform generally and the timing of future clinical trials, which reflect our current expectations and projections about future events, and involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

In particular it should be noted that the 30-day safety data described in the release are preliminary in nature and the Phase 1 trial is not completed. There is limited data concerning safety and feasibility of NKG2D CAR T-cell therapy. These data may not continue for these subjects or be repeated or observed in ongoing or future studies involving our NKG2D CAR T-cell therapy, C-Cure or other product candidates. It is possible that safety issues or adverse events may arise in the future.

These forward-looking statements are further qualified by important factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including risks associated with conducting clinical trials; the risk that safety, bioactivity, feasibility  and/or efficacy demonstrated in earlier clinical or pre-clinical studies may not be replicated in subsequent studies; risk associated with the timely submission and approval of anticipated regulatory filings; the successful initiation and completion of clinical trials, including Phase III clinical trials for C-Cure® and Phase I clinical trial for NKG2D CAR T-cell; risks associated with the satisfaction of regulatory and other requirements; risks associated with the actions of regulatory bodies and other governmental authorities; risks associated with obtaining, maintaining and protecting intellectual property, our ability to enforce our patents against infringers and defend our patent portfolio against challenges from third parties; risks associated with competition from others developing products for similar uses; risks associated with our ability to manage operating expenses;, and risks associated with our ability to obtain additional funding to support our business activities and establish and maintain strategic business alliances and business initiatives. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other risks can be found in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including in the Company’s prospectus filed with the SEC on June 19, 2015 and future filings and reports by the Company. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

C3BS-CQR-1, C-Cure, NKG2D CAR T-cell, C-Cath_ez ^TM, OnCyte, Celyad, Cardio3 BioSciences and the Cardio3 BioSciences, Celyad, C-Cath_ez^TM, CHART-1, CHART-2 and OnCyte logos are signs internationally protected under applicable Intellectual Property Laws. Mayo Clinic holds equity in Celyad as a result of intellectual property licensed to the Company.