MediHealth Ltd and NovaThera Ltd are pleased to announce that following the successful launch and market reception of NovaPod™ that they have signed an exclusive agreement for the scaled up production and distribution of NovaPod™ systems.

MediHealth will exclusively manufacture and NovaThera will exclusively distribute NovaPod™ globally.

Production of stem cells (and their derivatives) on a large scale is an essential requirement for the development of regenerative medicine therapies. NovaPod™ - is a compact, manual feed, disposable, batch culture bioreactor that allows researchers and scientists, working on stem cells to culture cells in three dimensions. NovaThera’s proprietary encapsulation technology can be used with NovaPod™ for the production of pluripotent stem cells and their progeny without the need for continuous operator intervention increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

The NovaPod™ system is one product of a large UK Government sponsored research project designed to discover and optimise stem cell production protocols and processes. MediHealth and NovaThera have co-developed and designed the NovaPod™ system in collaboration with stem cell scientists at 5 different UK universities.

The NovaPod™ system is backed by an increasing intellectual property portfolio that is incorporated into a growing, working bank of NovaSOPs™ (standard operating procedures) that have been developed within the world’s premier stem cell research groups and can be used with NovaPod™ bioreactors.

The NovaPod™ system and intellectual property can also be offered to commercial partners to enable the development of stem cell bio-processing for assay development, toxicology and clinical development.

‘This agreement is an important step in establishing NovaThera as a world leader in cell production technologies and applications and the technology partner of choice for stem cell researchers and developers’ said Dr Gareth Roberts (CSO NovaThera).
‘NovaPod™ offers cell culture researchers a low cost route into cellular bio-processing and 3D cell cultures. We are proud that our UK Government backed project produced a world class product for the stem cell community’ said Dr Wesley Randle (Stem Cell Bio-processing - Programme Director).

MediHealth and NovaThera have worked closely and creatively exchanging ideas on product design and development to optimise the functions and features of NovaPod™. Designed by cell culture scientists for their own use NovaPod™ is more user-friendly and reliable than other products currently on the market. Commenting on the project Michelle Lum, Assistant General Manager of MediHealth Ltd, said, ‘We are delighted our collaboration has resulted in a successful product. We will work to ensure NovaPod™ develops as a major technology platform in the cell culture market that is critical for regenerative medicine’.

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Notes to editors:

Background on NovaThera Ltd

NovaThera Ltd is an Imperial College spin out company. NovaThera specialises in pioneering applications of biomaterials and stem cell biology for regenerative medicine to provide innovative therapeutic solutions (wound management, bone repair, lung repair).
For more information about NovaThera, please visit http://www.novathera.com.

Background on MediHealth

About: MediHealth Limited (“MediHealth”), a member of AML Group, specializes in Development and Distribution of Medical Devices & Healthcare products providing one-stop partnership service. Headquartered in Hong Kong the Group has comprehensive, multi-technology, Integrated Manufacturing facilities and Collaboration Network with Technology Research Institutes & Venture Capitalists around the world. If you would like more information about this subject and to explore how we can complement your needs please visit http://www.medihealth.com.hk.

Contacts:

NovaThera	MediHealth
Dr Gareth Roberts, CSO g.roberts@novathera.com Dr Wesley Randle, Programme Director w.randle@novathera.com	Dr. Joseph Liu joseph.liu@medihealth.com.hk

This press release contains forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.