Agreen Acquisition Enhances CBMG’s T-Cell Portfolio

China’s Cellular Biomedicine Group acquires Agreen for US$3.38 million in cash in addition to stock units.

AsianScientist (Aug. 15, 2014) – Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (CBMG), a biomedicine firm engaged in the development of new treatments for degenerative and cancerous diseases, has reached an agreement to acquire Agreen Biotech Co. Ltd. China and its founder’s U.S. patent for a total cash and equity consideration of US$3.28 million in cash, the issuance of 753,522 shares of CBMG common stock and the issuance of 75,000 shares of CBMG restricted stock units.

The acquisition will include the intellectual properties (IP), assets and talents of this cancer-therapy-focused developmental stage company. The IP includes T-cell receptor (TCR) clonality analysis technology which enables the assessment of tumor specific immunity with high accuracy and efficiency. The IP also includes T central memory cell (Tcm) and dendritic cell preparation methodologies. Tcm cells are the subpopulation of T lymphocytes are the key element of immunocellular fortification against tumors, infections and immune disorders. Agreen had approximately US$1.1 million in lab test kit sales and technical services revenue in 2013.

CBMG expects to close the transaction and add 33 employees in the third quarter of 2014. Under China’s regulation, cancer patients treated with T-cell technology are entitled to medical insurance coverage in approximately ten provinces. According to the annual report of Chinese cancer statistics, there are 3,120,000 new cancer patients in China annually, or 8,550 new patients per day.

“The T-cell clonality analysis technology patent together with other know-how for immunity analysis, allows us to establish an immunoassay platform that is crucial for immunity evaluation of patients with immune disorders as well as cancerous diseases that are undergoing therapies,” said Dr. William (Wei) Cao, Chief Executive Officer of Cellular Biomedicine Group.

“As cancer causes great emotional and economic burden across China and globally, we feel privileged to be actively involved in empowering hospitals’ existing and new immune cell cancer therapy development programs that may help relieve that burden.”

Professor Zhong Chen Kou, co-founder and chief scientist of Agreen, commented, “We are excited to have this opportunity with CBMG to expand application of our cancer therapy-enabling technologies and look forward to initiating clinical trials with leading cancer hospitals, with the potential to not just extend life, but to improve quality of life.” Upon closing the transaction, Prof. Kou will join the CBMG as chief scientist, immunology.

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Source: Cellular Biomedicine Group.
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