BioTime CEO Dr. Michael West Presents at 2008 Seoul Digital Forum
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Discussed in Biotechnology
``Visionaries'' Panel
BioTime, Inc. (OTCBB:BTIM) Chief Executive Officer Michael West, PhD
today gave a presentation at the 2008 Seoul
Digital Forum in Seoul, South Korea. This year’s
conference, May 6-8, is titled “IMAGINATION –
Explore T.I.M.E. [Technology, Information,
Media & Entertainment], Space and Beyond.”
Dr. West was one of the featured speakers on the Biotechnology
Visionaries panel, which explored what the medical and scientific
community is doing to improve the human condition. The focus of Dr. West’s
presentation was on the future of the embryonic stem cell technology
platform, and the implications that research has for medicine in the
coming decades.
The Seoul Digital Forum is a major annual international conference
focused on highlighting innovations in the digital world, with the
stated aim of enhancing knowledge and understanding on a broad range of
issues in the digital era.
In his presentation, Dr. West explained that human embryonic stem cells
have two properties that set them apart from other cultured normal human
cells and are the basis of their great promise. They show the unusual
property of indefinite propagation in the laboratory, and they have the
capacity to turn into any of the cell types of the human body. Dr. West
suggested that these properties have the potential to unify the fields
of cell biology and molecular genetics, with profound implications for
the future of medicine. Dr. West also briefly described BioTime’s
programs in the stem cell arena and its efforts to map the human
embryome with its planned database, Embryome.com.
Dr. West commented, “Advances in information
technology are enabling advances in biotechnology at an accelerating
rate, with BioTime’s planned embryome mapping
database, Embryome.com, as just one example. We applaud the organizers
of the Seoul Digital Forum for synergistically melding a very diverse
group of Visionaries and other participants under a common theme at this
year’s event.”
This year’s conference featured an address by
Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft. The keynote speaker was
Sumner Redstone, Chairman, Viacom and CBS Corporation, and other
Visionaries and participants include Tim Draper, Founder and Managing
Director, Draper Fischer Jurvetson; Craig Walker, Senior Product
Manager, Google Voice Products; Dochan Kwak, Chief of the Applications
Branch, Advanced Supercomputing Division, NASA; and Eugene Cernan,
Commander of Apollo XVII, “The Last Man on
the Moon,” among others.
About BioTime, Inc.
BioTime, headquartered in Emeryville, California, develops blood plasma
volume expanders, blood replacement solutions for hypothermic (low
temperature) surgery, organ preservation solutions, and technology for
use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment and other applications.
BioTime’s lead product Hextend is
manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by Hospira, Inc. and in South
Korea by CJ CheilJedang Corp. under exclusive licensing agreements.
BioTime has recently entered the field of regenerative medicine through
its wholly owned subsidiary Embryome Sciences, Inc., through which it
plans to develop new medical and research products using embryonic stem
cell technology. Additional information about BioTime can be found on
the web at www.biotimeinc.com.
Hextend®, PentaLyte®,
HetaCool®, EmbryomicsTM,
ESpyTM, and EScalateTM
are trademarks of BioTime, Inc.
Forward Looking Statements
The matters discussed in this press release include forward-looking
statements which are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the
results anticipated.Such risks and uncertainties include but are
not limited to the success of BioTime in developing new stem cell
products and technologies; results of clinical trials of BioTime
products; the ability of BioTime and its licensees to obtain additional
FDA and foreign regulatory approval to market BioTime products;
competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by
other companies; the price of and demand for BioTime products, and the
ability of BioTime to raise the capital needed to finance its current
and planned operations.Other factors that could affect BioTime’s
operations and financial condition are discussed in BioTime’s
Annual Report on Form 10-KSB filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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