RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., April 30, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cesca Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:KOOL), an autologous cell-based regenerative medicine company, today announced that its CEO, Matthew Plavan and President, Ken Harris held several meetings yesterday with key members and members' senior staff of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. Cesca management discussed the importance of passing Senate Bill S.2126 and House Bill H.R. 4494 - The Regenerative Medicine Promotion Act of 2014, as well as the potential clinical benefit and cost savings impact Cesca's SurgWerks-CLI product, a mid-to-late stage clinical trial treatment for non-operable critical limb ischemia, will have on the U.S. healthcare system. Mr. Plavan and Mr. Harris focused on the delegation from Texas where the incidence of critical limb ischemia is among the highest in the country. They were honored with meetings in the following offices:
- Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) – Member of the Senate Sub Committee on Healthcare
- Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)
- Rep. Gene Greene (Texas) – Member of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus
- Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D. (Texas) – Vice Chairman, Congressional Sub Committee on Health
During the visit, the Company participated in the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's ("ARM") annual legislative meeting where Senators Barbara Boxer (California) and Mark Kirk (Illinois) were honored for their co-sponsorship of the Regenerative Medicine Promotion Act of 2014. Based in Washington, DC, ARM is a global advocacy organization that promotes legislative, regulatory, reimbursement, investment, technical and other initiatives to accelerate the development of safe and effective regenerative medicine technologies.
As a member of ARM, Cesca is active in promoting the benefits of regenerative medicine therapies. Mr. Harris currently serves on both the ARM Reimbursement Committee, and CMS (Medicare) Reimbursement Sub Committee.
"Having a clear reimbursement strategy for each of our products in both the private payer (i.e. private insurance) and CMS reimbursement programs is important for the successful commercialization of our curative cell-based therapies," said Mr. Plavan. "Ken Harris' involvement in driving a reimbursement strategy for our products in global advocacy groups such as ARM will ensure regenerative medicine products like our SurgWerks-CLI therapy have a clear roadmap to payment reimbursement," he continued.
"We are very pleased with the reception regenerative medicine therapies and in particular, Cesca's SurgWerks, are receiving from our congressional representatives," said Ken Harris. "Because our therapies are curative and have the potential to reduce the current cost of care by billions across several major clinical indications, they positively impact two major objectives of the CMS healthcare reimbursement reform efforts," he continued.
About Cesca Therapeutics
Cesca Therapeutics Inc. (www.cescatherapeutics.com) is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of autologous cell-based therapeutics for use in regenerative medicine. We are a leader in developing and manufacturing automated blood and bone marrow processing systems that enable the separation, processing and preservation of cell and tissue therapy products. These include:
- SurgWerks™ Platform, a proprietary stem cell therapy point-of-care kit system for treating vascular and orthopedic indications that integrate the following indication specific systems:
- Cell harvesting
- Cell processing and selection
- Cell diagnostics
- Cell delivery
- AXP® AutoXpress® Platform (AXP), a proprietary family of automated devices that includes the AXP and the MXP® MarrowXpress® and companion sterile blood processing disposables for harvesting stem cells in closed systems. The AXP device is used for the processing of cord blood.
- The MarrowXpress Platform (MXP), a derivative product of the AXP and its accompanying disposable bag set, isolates and concentrates stem cells from bone marrow. Self-powered and microprocessor-controlled, the MXP contains flow control optical sensors that volume-reduces blood from bone marrow to a user defined volume in 30 minutes, while retaining over 90% of the MNCs.
- The Res-Q™ 60 (Res-Q), a point-of-care system designed for the preparation of cell concentrates, including stem cells, from bone marrow aspirates and whole blood for platelet rich plasma (PRP).
- The BioArchive® System, an automated cryogenic device, used by cord blood stem cell banks in more than 30 countries for cryopreserving and archiving cord blood stem cell units for transplant.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to that Cesca Therapeutics Inc. will provide unmatched world-class capability and service to its clients. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. A more complete description of risks that could cause actual events to differ from the outcomes predicted by our forward-looking statements is set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in Cesca Therapeutics annual report on Form 10-K and other reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, and you should consider each of those factors when evaluating the forward-looking statements.