Osiris Therapeutics Launches Prestige™ Lyotechnology, a Novel Method for Ambient Storage of Living Cells and Tissues

COLUMBIA, Md., March 30, 2017 -- Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (Pink Sheets:OSIR), a leading regenerative medicine company focused on developing and marketing products for wound care, orthopedics, and sports medicine, announced today that it has developed cutting edge technology enabling the preservation of living cells and tissues at ambient temperatures.

Historically, cryopreservation was the only available method that allowed for long-term preservation of living cells and tissues. However, cryopreservation requires ultra-low-temperature freezers and dry ice or liquid nitrogen for storage, which limits the widespread use of cellular therapies.  To address this limitation, Osiris has developed Prestige™ Lyotechnology.  Unlike all other known lyophilization methods, Prestige™ Lyotechnology enables the preservation of living cells within tissues while stored at ambient temperatures. Moreover, the manufacturing of lyopreserved living tissues with Prestige™ Lyotechnology is scalable and can be applied to many different cell and tissue types.  Placental products will be the focus of the Company’s first application of Prestige™ Lyotechnology.

“This novel technology developed by Osiris will benefit the entire field of cellular therapies.  It is expected to accelerate development, commercialization and widespread use of living cell and tissue therapies,” said Alla Danilkovitch, Chief Scientific Officer at Osiris.  “Through more than two decades of basic and clinical research, Osiris has not only defined the sci­ence and potential of cellular regenerative therapies, but has also created a body of work, advancing the medical community’s understanding of cellular technology.  With the intro­duction of Prestige™ Lyotechnology, Osiris is bringing these innovative cellular therapies to more patients to address a wide range of unmet medical needs.”

The Osiris’s Prestige™ Lyotechnology is featured in tomorrow’s online publication of Osiris’s profile in the scientific journal Nature (www.nature.com), entitled “Innovation on the shelf: solving the puzzle of live-cell preservation”.  The print version of this article will appear in the special annual “MedTech Dealmakers” issue of Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery in May.  Nature is the world’s most highly cited international, interdisciplinary science journal.

About Osiris Therapeutics
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., based in Columbia, Maryland, is a world leader in researching, developing, and marketing regenerative medicine products that improve health and lives of patients and lower overall healthcare costs. Having developed the world's first approved stem cell drug, the Company continues to advance its research and development in biotechnology by focusing on innovation in regenerative medicine — including bioengineering, stem cell research and viable tissue based products. Osiris has achieved commercial success with products in wound care, orthopedics, and sports medicine, including Grafix®, Stravix™, BIO4 ™, and Cartiform®. Osiris, Grafix, Stravix and Cartiform are trademarks of Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., and BIO4 is a trademark of Howmedica Osteonics Corp. More information can be found on the Company’s website, www.Osiris.com. (OSIR-G)

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "ongoing," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project" or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Examples of forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the potential uses of Prestige™ Lyotechnology and the publication of Osiris’s profile in Nature (www.nature.com). Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

For additional information, please contact:

Diane Savoie
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.
(443) 545-1834
[email protected]