Re: Collaboration

ReNeuron Group plc 18 May 2007 ReNeuron announces collaboration to enhance its stem cell expansion technology Guildford, UK, 18 May 2007: ReNeuron Group plc (LSE: RENE.L) today announced that it has signed a Research Collaboration Agreement with King's College London to further develop the Company's c-mycER stem cell expansion technology. The research will be part-funded by the UK government under its Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme. Dr Michael Antoniou, who heads the Nuclear Biology Group in the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at King's, will develop new delivery constructs to enhance the efficiency and safety of the c-mycER transgene when used to grow stem cell lines. Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer of ReNeuron, said: 'We have already successfully scaled up our ReN001 cell line for stroke using our c-mycER platform. Having demonstrated that the technology works well in our lead therapeutic programme, we are looking to this collaboration to enhance efficiency when selecting and scaling future cell line products using c-mycER. We believe this will ultimately lead to shorter therapeutic development timelines for ReNeuron's stem cell therapies. The UK government's support for this collaboration through the KTP scheme will assist in ensuring that the programme realises its aims in the shortest possible timeframe.' Enquiries: ReNeuron Michael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +44 (0) 1483 302560 Dr John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer Financial Dynamics David Yates Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113 Nicola Daley Notes to Editors About ReNeuron ReNeuron is a leading, UK-based stem cell therapy business. It is applying its novel stem cell platform technologies in the development of ground-breaking stem cell therapies to serve significant and unmet or poorly-met clinical needs. ReNeuron has used its c-mycER technology to generate genetically stable neural stem cell lines. This technology platform has multi-national patent protection and is fully regulated by means of a chemically-induced safety switch. Cell growth can therefore be completely arrested prior to in vivo implantation. ReNeuron has filed for approval to commence initial clinical studies in the US with its lead ReN001 stem cell therapy for chronic stroke disability. This represents the world's first such filing concerning a neural stem cell treatment for a major neurological disorder. ReNeuron has also generated pre-clinical efficacy data with its ReN005 stem cell therapy for Huntington's disease, a genetic and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects around 1 in 10,000 people. This programme is in pre-clinical development. In addition to its stroke and Huntington's disease programmes, ReNeuron is developing stem cell therapies for Parkinson's disease, Type 1 diabetes and diseases of the retina. ReNeuron has also leveraged its stem cell technologies into non-therapeutic areas - its ReNcellTM range of cell lines for use in research and in drug discovery applications in the pharmaceutical industry. ReNeuron's ReNcellTM CX and ReNcellTM VM neural cell lines are marketed worldwide under license by Millipore Corporation. ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com. About King's College London King's College London is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency. King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, international relations, medicine, nursing and the sciences, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university. King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £100 million, and has an annual turnover of more than £363 million. Data sources: UK Stroke Association; American Stroke Association. This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance of ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuron with respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as 'should', 'expects', 'estimates', 'believes' or similar expressions. This announcement also contains forward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to their estimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect ReNeuron's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of factors could cause ReNeuron's actual financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or implied in such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not be placed on such statements. The terms 'ReNeuron', 'the Company' or 'the Group' used in this statement refer to ReNeuron Group plc and/or its subsidiary undertakings, depending on the context. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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