EQS-News: CRMI: Bio-Engineered Cornea 'ACORNEA' Exhibits at 28th Annual Meeting of European Eye Bank Association

Hong Kong, China--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2016) -
EQS-News / 25/01/2016 / 09:42 UTC+8

[For Immediate Release]

China Regenerative Medicine International Limited
(Stock Code: 8158.HK)

Bio-Engineered Cornea "ACORNEA" Exhibits at 28th Annual Meeting of European Eye Bank Association

[25 January 2016] (Hong Kong) - China Regenerative Medicine International Limited ("CRMI" or the "Company," stock code: 8158.HK, together with its subsidiaries, collectively the "Group") is pleased to announce that the world's first bio-engineered cornea "Acornea" was exhibited at the 28th Annual Meeting of the European Eye Bank Association ("EEBA") in Aarhus, Denmark on the 22 January and has attracted much attention from experts all over the world.

To date, 27 meetings of the EEBA have been successfully hosted and this year, it attracted over 200 corneal surgeons, researchers and technicians to exchange knowledge and technical skills and establish standard practices for the treatment of eye diseases. This year's meeting focused on current state-of-the-art eye banking techniques and future strategies to optimize eye banking skills. The purpose of these meetings is to exchange information and ideas, to promote procurement and supply of human eye tissue for therapeutic purposes, to improve and adapt storage methods, and to encourage the implementation of standard operating procedures. At the same time, this is also one of the world's most influential cornea and eye banking professional academic conferences.

In the EEBA annual meeting, Dr Zhengkang Shao, CEO of CRMI, delivered a speech on 'China's self-developed world's first bio-engineered cornea "Acornea" is regulatory approved and commercialised. It is not only serving Chinese patients but also patients all over the world.' He emphasized that effective technologies, safe development and innovative products can narrow the gap between cornea donation levels and demand. "Acornea" will eventually help patients to gain better quality of life as well as enhance the collaboration between China and European eye banks. In the future, CRMI will continue to put patient's well-being ahead of all else, and strive to meet patient demand in a safe and effective manner.

According to the World Health Organisation, diseases affecting the cornea are a major cause of blindness worldwide, second only to cataracts in overall importance. Existing treatments for corneal blindness include transplantation of donated or artificial cornea. In Asia, there is an increasing number of patients with corneal diseases each year while cornea donations are in short supply. Artificial cornea fabricated from synthetic materials, such as glass, acrylic and silica gel, often have poor biocompatibility and mechanical properties. CRMI, therefore, began to develop "Acornea" since 2003. CRMI applies its tissue engineering technique on porcine cornea to preserve collagen architecture of the corneal matrix so that it can quickly integrate with patients' corneal tissue. The transplanted cornea will gradually become transparent, thus leading to a recovery of patients' vision. Clinical trial data shows an overall transplantation efficacy of 94.44%, with recovery rates very similar to that of donated corneas. Over the years, with tremendous devotion and dedication from CRMI, the self-developed "Acornea" has completed all the necessary clinical trials and obtained its product certificate approved by the China Food and Drug Administration. Moreover, it is the world's first clinically-approved bio-engineered cornea. "Acornea" is also an important milestone for CRMI in the area of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

"Acornea" is now available in the market and can greatly ease the shortage of donated corneas, bringing hope to over 4 million patients with corneal diseases in China and over 60 million patients worldwide.

-End-

About CRMI
CRMI is listed on the GEM board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with stock code 8158. The Company is principally engaged in research and development of bio-medical and healthcare products, and medical techniques; the provision of the production and sales of tissue engineering products and its related derivatives; as well as sales and distribution of medical products and equipment.

About European Eye Bank Association
Founded in 1989 in Italy, EEBA is a technical-scientific organisation comprising individual members from 84 eye banks from 24 European countries. It is formed for the advancement of eye banking. Its mission is to help provide tissues and cells of optimum quality and safety for transplantation and the treatment of eye diseases, according to the highest medical and scientific standards; EEBA also contributes to the development and maintenance of standards for the practice of eye banking in Europe.

Issued by Financial PR (HK) Limited For and on behalf of China Regenerative Medicine International Limited

For further information, please contact:
Financial PR (HK) Limited
Mr. James Lo jameslo@financialpr.hk
Ms. Cindy Lo cindylo@financialpr.hk
Tel: (852) 2610-0846
Fax: (852) 2610-0842

25/01/2016 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by EQS TodayIR - a company of EQS Group AG.
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