Corporate Update

RNS Number : 2249N

WideCells Group PLC

24 October 2016

 

24 October 2016

WideCells Group PLC ('WideCells Group' or 'the Group' or 'the Company')

Corporate Update

WideCells Group PLC, the healthcare services company focused on providing stem cell banking services and ground breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, is pleased to provide a corporate update on the Group's strategy to make stem cell treatment affordable and accessible for families worldwide and in turn, fuel innovation and investment to the stem cell industry.

Key Personnel Appointments in Corporate Headquarters in Manchester

Recognising the instrumental role a highly skilled team will play in delivering on its strategic vision, the Group has made additional key personnel appointments across its three core divisions.  This brings its total headcount, including at its stem cell storage facility in São Paulo, WideCells Brasil, up to 28.  Recent hires include:

·     Matthew Lord appointed as Group Marketing Manager, responsible for devising and implementing WideCells Group's marketing strategy.  Mathew has international experience of delivering across core areas of the marketing mix in both B2B and B2C and is well placed to lead the Group's marketing strategy as it continues to expand its service-offering

·     Frances Dutton appointed as Group Accounting Manager, bringing extensive experience in project management and management accounting

·     Damilola Aboyeji appointed as Group Lab Manager.  Damilola is a laboratory scientist with a background in microbiology and cell therapy research, bringing considerable experience and high-level analysis skills to the Group

Clean Room Renovation at the WideCells Institute of Stem Cell Technology in Manchester ('ISCT')

Work continues at the stem cell storage facility currently being developed by the Group's WideCell's division at the University of Manchester Innovation Centre ('UMIC'). The Group has commenced high specification renovation work on the clean room suite, which include two high specification clean rooms for processing human cord blood, cord tissue, dental pulp and adipose tissue, to bring it to gold standards. 

The ISCT will provide the WideCells division with the capacity to carry out in-house research and development and contract research in the clean rooms, thereby stimulating research and innovation.  This research and development is a key deliverable element of the Group's strategy.

Shareholder Letter

The Company has posted a shareholder letter on its website at www.widecellsgroup.com. 

WideCells Group CEO, João Andrade, said, "We are delighted with the considerable progress we have made towards developing WideCells Group over the past three months.  From the outset, the Board established that attracting the best talent would be the cornerstone of successfully delivering on our strategy to revolutionise and innovate the stem cell industry and following a targeted recruitment drive, we are confident that we have secured a highly skilled and experienced team with the requisite skillset to make significant contributions to the Group's growth.

"The WideCells Institute of Stem Cell Technology will mark a major milestone in WideCells division's development and as well as providing us with a substantial revenue stream, it will enable us to undertake in-house research, creating another key differentiator for the enlarged Group.

"Having secured a strong team and with the positive progress we have made, I'm looking forward to updating the market with further developments in the coming months."

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit the Company's website www.widecellsgroup.com, follow us on Twitter @WideCells_Group or contact:

WideCells Group Plc	CEO - João Andrade	Tel:  [phone]
Vicarage Capital Ltd	Broker - Jeremy Woodgate & Rupert Williams	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP	Broker - Damon Heath & Erik Woolgar	Tel: [phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd	PR - Elisabeth Cowell & Charlotte Page	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments accessible and affordable. The Directors believe that the use of cord blood stem cells for transplant will drive one of the next important phases in medicine and is therefore developing market leading products in complementary, strategic areas which are designed to take advantage of substantial market opportunities in one of the fastest growing segments in the healthcare industry.  With this in mind, it has created three divisions:

·     CellPlan: the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process

·     WideCells: a portfolio of best in class stem cell processing and cord blood storage facilities with an existing presence in UK and Brazil

·     WideAcademy: developing an education and training division to promote awareness of the benefits of stem cell storage across the global general practice community.

The Group has built an experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

·     Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families due to it being simple, safe and painless to collect relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow - WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of this.

·     Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells

·     82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures

·     Despite initial storage often costing no more than a few £thousand, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR).

 

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