Athersys, Inc. (OTCPK:ATHX) announced that it has entered into a warrant exercise inducement offer letter to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately $3.9 million from the exercise of 28,124,590 warrants and received the first tranche payment of $1.5 million from HEALIOS K.K. (?Healios?) under the acute respiratory distress syndrome (?ARDS?) global license. Net proceeds from the exercise of the Existing Warrants and the ARDS license with Healios will extend the Company?s liquidity to continue to explore strategic alternatives. Athersys has engaged Outcome Capital (?Outcome?) to assist the company with evaluating strategic alternatives, which could include, without limitation, exploring the potential for a possible merger, business combination, investment into the company, or a purchase, license, or other acquisition of assets with the goal of maximizing shareholder value.

This process may not result in any transaction and the Company does not intend to disclose additional details unless and until it has entered into a specific transaction. However, in the event Athersys is unable to enter into a strategic transaction or obtain adequate financing, it expects to have to file for protection under the bankruptcy laws to allow the company to conduct an orderly wind down of operations.