Harvard Bioscience files two major patents in regenerative medicine

Harvard Bioscience, Inc., a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products used to advance life science research and regenerative medicine, has filed two major patents in the field of regenerative medicine, the first covering 61 claims for its stem cell therapy injectors and the second for 338 claims for bioreactors for organ growth.

David Green, President of Harvard Bioscience, commented, "This is an important milestone for Harvard Bioscience illustrating the value we place on our intellectual property in the emerging field of regenerative medicine. Our strategy is to supply tools to researchers and clinicians within the field of regenerative medicine, and completing these patent filings marks an important milestone in that plan."

Harvard Bioscience is collaborating with leading academics in the field of regenerative medicine to develop its regenerative medicine products. In 2009, the Company licensed the bioreactor technology underlying the world's first human transplant of a regenerated bronchus. The transplant was performed by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini at the Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain and the work was published in The Lancet on November 19, 2008. This "InBreath" bioreactor is now commercially available. In 2010, the Company's Harvard Apparatus / Hugo Sachs Elektronik business collaborated with Dr. Harald Ott and Massachusetts General Hospital to design and manufacture a novel bioreactor that was used to grow a functional lung that was transplanted into a rat. The research was published online in Nature Medicine on July 13, 2010.

In addition to developing bioreactors, Harvard Bioscience is also developing a stem cell therapy injector based on its market leading Harvard Apparatus research syringe pump technology. The Company expects to submit this injector to the US FDA next year for approval for clinical use on patients.