Healios NA Inc. an approximately $1 million Translational Stage 4 (TRAN4) grant in support of its hypo-immune iPSC cells ("Universal Donor Cells" or "UDC"). This funding will enable Healios NA to advance research and development toward a next generation UDC. Healios is a pioneer in the development of regenerative medicines and is advancing efforts to create new therapeutic medicines using iPSC and other cell lines.

Over its greater than a decade of developing iPSC products, Healios has built a suite of proprietary technologies that includes high quality, clinical grade iPS cell lines. As announced in October 2020, Healios completed the generation of a clinical-grade UDC iPSC line as a next-generation technology platform for the creation of regenerative medicine products with enhanced efficacy and safety by suppressing immune rejection, while maintaining the inherent characteristics of iPSCs such as unlimited self-renewal and pluripotency to differentiate into various cells. Since then, Healios has provided UDCs to research institutes and companies around the world as a promising raw material for cellular medicines and verified their potential in relation to a wide range of diseases.

Among other cell types, Healios has confirmed the induction of differentiation, hypo-immune character, etc. for otic neural progenitor cells and pancreatic b- cells, and has published certain results of this research, which has been highly evaluated by its partner institutions around the world. Leveraging this award by CIRM, Healios NA expects to further expand the potential of UDC derived therapies in the United States, where progressive biotech research and development is underway.