BioTime CEO Explains What Could Happen To Stem Cell Research And The Company Under A New Guard In Washington

BioTime, Inc. (NYSE: BTX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company working on regenerative medicine and pluripotent stem cell technologies. Dr. Michael D. West, the original founder of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) (and often called “the father of regenerative medicine”) created it almost a decade ago, and has been serving as co-CEO ever since.

Benzinga recently had the chance to chat with the company’s co-CEO, co-president and board director Adi Mohanty who explained what stem cells are, how they work, and how BioTime uses them.

A Touchy Subject

Toward the end of the conversation, Benzinga asked about stem cell therapies and the impact of a Republican-controlled Congress and White House.

“Absolutely we are watching it and looking at how that might affect us,” Mohanty said. “But, most importantly, what would be worth telling the readers is: if you look at any other regenerative medicine company that’s working with stem cells, we are the least impacted by policy change.”

The co-CEO went on to explain that BioTime’s lead product is not a stem cell therapy. “It uses a person’s old fat cells, and our delivery matrix has nothing to do with any controversy.” Below are some other reasons he provided to justify how protected from policy shift the company is:

• Their current operation runs out of Israel. This means that it “cannot be attacked by the U.S.”
• Initial markets are Europe, Asia and Latin America.
• They “have time to work within whatever policy changes happen without having any effect on the company.”
• They use NIH-approved cells from about 12 or 15 years ago. This means they need no new sources.
• They are not dependent on NIH funding.

So, if something were to change in the field, BioTime is in “the best position to take advantage,” said Mohanty.

“What policy and government people can do is cut off funding [...] They cannot take our cells back. What they can do is cut off funding,” Mohanty supplemented. In addition, “we could have the benefit of private investors [who believe it’s important to fund this research],” he concluded, pointing out the support of Neal C. Bradsher’s hedge fund, Broadwood Capital, which has “a long list of successful investments,” including Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: QCOR) and Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST), among others.

Image Credit: By Stemcellscientist - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19106655