Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (AMBS)

[JPetroInc]

Posted on August 14th, 2013

"As we continue our pursuit of identifying a variety of orphan indications for MANF, this first success is a major milestone. When data becomes available in the coming weeks on different applications, we will begin to spend some time reprioritizing our MANF pipeline to ensure that we are maximizing shareholder value, while simultaneously ensuring that we are expeditiously moving MANF forward in the various indications where MANF has shown benefit pre-clinically. We intend to rely heavily on not-for-profit funding for certain indications in order to minimize shareholder dilution while maximizing patient benefit as we move MANF forward. The economies of scale created by having a single therapeutic candidate treat multiple diseases cannot be overstated, as development milestones in one area support further development in the others. The Company’s orphan drug strategy outlined in November of 2012 is beginning to bear fruit and we intend to pursue orphan diseases aggressively as we see this as the most effective and expeditious route to getting MANF to patients.

A prime example of a successful orphan strategy is Genzyme, which was acquired by Sanofi Aventis (SNY) in 2011 for $20.1B. Another example of a successful orphan strategy is FerroKin Biosciences, which was acquired by Shire (SHPG) for $325M in early 2012 with only $27M in paid-in-capital and a virtual staff of 7 employees. In 2011, Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) reported $783M in revenue based on sales of its only product Soliris, a drug that treats a population of approximately 10,000 patients in the US and Western Europe.

We have taken a very important step forward in our MANF program and strategy and are looking forward to updating shareholders on further developments in the weeks and months ahead."[/quote]