19 September 2017 - - US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm Cellular Biomedicine Group (NASDAQ: CBMG) has validated US-based cell and tissue hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media maker BioLife Solutions, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: BLFS) proprietary CryoStor freeze media for use in CBMG's planned US Phase I clinical trial of AlloJoin, an off the shelf allogeneic stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis, BioLife said on Tuesday.

In addition to this product adoption by CBMG, CryoStor and HypoThermosol, BioLife's companion cell storage and shipping media, have been used in at least 250 regenerative medicine applications, including several late-stage clinical trials.

BioLife's customer base has grown to over 2,000 companies, universities and clinical centers in the regenerative medicine, drug discovery and biobanking markets.

According to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, there are 27m Americans with osteoarthritis, and symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis occurs in 13% of persons aged 60 and older.

The International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, 2011 reports that approximately 57m people in Chinasuffer from KOA. Currently no treatment exists that can effectively preserve knee joint cartilage or slow the progression of KOA.

Current common drug-based methods of management, including anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), only relieve symptoms and carry the risk of side effects.

Patients with KOA suffer from compromised mobility, leading to sedentary lifestyles; doubling the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity; and increasing the risk of all causes of mortality, colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety.

According to the Epidemiology of Rheumatic Disease (Silman AJ, Hochberg MC. Oxford Univ. Press, 1993:257), 53% of patients with KOA will eventually become disabled.

Cellular Biomedicine develops proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases.

The company conducts immuno-oncology and stem cell clinical trials in China using products from its integrated GMP laboratory.

CBMG has GMP facilities in China, consisting of twelve independent cell production lines, all designed and managed according to both China and US GMP standards.

The company recently commenced two Phase I human clinical trials in China using CAR-T to treat relapsed/refractory CD19+ B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) as well as an ongoing Phase I trial in China for AlloJoin (CBMG's "Off-the-Shelf" Allogeneic Human Adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell) for the treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis.

BioLife Solutions develops, manufactures and markets biopreservation media products and smart shipping containers connected to a cloud-hosted cold chain management app to improve the quality of delivery logistics for cells, tissues, and organs.