BioTime, Inc. Moving From Nasdaq to the American Stock Exchange, Symbol Changes to 'BTX'

Business Wire, August 30, 1999

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 30, 1999--

BioTime, Inc. (Nasdaq:BTIM) announced today that its common shares have been approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) under the symbol "BTX".

Trading on the AMEX is expected to begin on August 31, 1999.

"BioTime is looking forward to trading on the AMEX," said Dr. Paul Segall, BioTime chairman and chief executive officer. "We believe that the move to AMEX is a positive development for the Company and its shareholders."

"In addition, BioTime shareholders can now look forward to increasing sales of Hextend(R) and the entrance of other products into clinical trials. Hextend is BioTime's physiologically balanced plasma volume expander which is approved for the treatment of large volume blood loss during surgery. It is the only commercially available plasma expander that contains multiple electrolytes, glucose, a physiological buffer and hetastarch. Hextend is also completely sterilized to avoid risk of infection," said Dr. Segall.

Two other BioTime products, PentaLyte(R) and HetaCool(TM), are expected to enter clinical trials in the near future. PentaLyte is a pentastarch-based plasma volume expander formulated similarly to Hextend, which may be preferable for use in surgeries where blood loss is not as great. HetaCool is a variant of Hextend formulated to replace the entire circulating blood volume at near-freezing temperatures, allowing prolonged surgery on the heart and brain while circulation is arrested. Numerous experiments using both products have been successfully conducted in animals.

BioTime, headquartered in Berkeley, Calif., is engaged in the research and development of blood plasma volume expanders, and solutions and technology for low temperature surgery, organ preservation, emergency trauma treatment, and other applications.

The matters discussed in this press release include forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to results of clinical trials; BioTime's ability to obtain FDA and foreign regulatory approval to market its products; competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by other companies; the price of and demand for BioTime's products; BioTime's ability to negotiate favorable licensing or other manufacturing and marketing agreements for its products; the availability of ingredients used in BioTime products; and the availability of reimbursement for the cost of BioTime products (and related treatment) from government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other organizations. These and other risk factors are discussed in BioTime's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.