Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (http://www.cordblood-america.com ) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, announced today that it has signed a License and Cooperation Agreement for the processing and storage of umbilical cord blood in China with AXM Pharma, Inc. (Pink Sheets: AXMP).
AXM Pharma is a global pharmaceutical company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products in China, where it owns a production facility which follows Chinese Good Manufacturing Practices. AXM Pharma has had a major presence in the Chinese pharmaceutical market for more than 6 years. The License Agreement terms include that AXM Pharma will provide the equipment, facilities and personnel in China necessary for business operations and will market the service in that nation.
AXM Pharma owns six buildings totaling more than 200,000 square feet of space on its 13 acre biotech campus in Shenyang, China, dedicated for this venture. CBAI believes this creates the world's largest cord blood bank, with a capacity of more than 2 million samples to start. AXM Pharma also has over 200 employees and 20 distributors to support plans for a rapid ramp up of the cord blood stem cell business.
Cord Blood America will grant to AXM a license to use its proprietary technology and know-how for the processing and storage of cord blood and CBAI will provide consulting and training. In return, CBAI will receive a 10% equity stake in AXM Pharma's stem cell subsidiary and an 8.5% royalty for all cord blood sales. As part of the license, Matthew L. Schissler, Cord Blood America co-founder and CEO, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of AXM Pharma.
"We are extremely excited about this deal. This is a major step, a key building block, toward becoming the globally dominant stem cell storage company, which is our goal. Building what we believe to be the world's largest cord blood bank, in the world's most populous country, is a very logical strategic move forward," said Mr. Schissler.
The companies plan on the lab to begin processing stem cell samples by January 1, 2011, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.
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