iPierian to Collaborate With Johns Hopkins University on $3.7 Million NIH Grand Opportunities Grant

iPierian to Collaborate With Johns Hopkins University on $3.7 Million NIH
Grand Opportunities Grant
Grant to Fund Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Research

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- iPierian, Inc., a
biopharmaceutical company focused on changing the paradigm of drug discovery
and development through the application of cellular reprogramming, today
announced that it has been selected to participate in a $3.7 million National
Institutes of Health (NIH) Grand Opportunities (GO) grant awarded to The Johns
Hopkins University. The grant, given over a two-year span, will be used to
generate amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) iPS cells and to evaluate the
ability of these cells to reflect human cell biology and the characteristics
of native motor neurons and astrocytes, the cell types involved in ALS. The
grant was awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 by
the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the
NIH.

"iPS cell technology holds tremendous promise because it allows scientists to
study conditions such as ALS in disease-specific human models for the first
time," said John P. Walker, chief executive officer of iPierian. "This
research project is an exciting opportunity for Johns Hopkins and iPierian. It
will provide valuable information on the cell type specificity and functional
biology of ALS iPS cells, which will ultimately help us develop more effective
targeted therapies for patients."

About the NIH Grand Opportunities (GO) grants
The NIH established the Research and Research Infrastructure Grand
Opportunities (GO) grants program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009. The GO grants support large-scale research projects that
accelerate critical breakthroughs, early and applied research on cutting-edge
technologies, and new approaches to improve the synergy and interactions among
multi and interdisciplinary research teams. The initiative was established to
seek novel approaches in areas that address specific knowledge gaps,
scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research
methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area
in significant ways.

About iPierian
iPierian is a South San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company focused on
the industrialization of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) technology with
the mission of creating new therapeutics through cellular reprogramming and
directed differentiation of patient cells. iPierian is backed by Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers, Highland Capital Partners, MPM Capital and FinTech
Global Capital. The initial focus of the company is in neurodegeneration,
particularly spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) and Parkinson's disease as well as in cardiovascular disease, where
iPierian has a collaboration with The Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular
Disease and Dr. Deepak Srivastava, the institute's director. iPierian plans to
enhance its partnership efforts to further expand into metabolic diseases.
Earlier this year, the company announced a formal collaboration with the
laboratory of Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University to develop and improve
methods of deriving iPS cell lines in order to advance iPS cell technology.

Because iPS cells are believed to be able to grow indefinitely in culture and
to differentiate into many cell types, iPS cells have great potential for
disease research, preclinical drug testing and cell-based therapy. iPierian's
approach places the patient at the forefront of the drug discovery process in
order to reduce drug development time and increase the probability of success
for drug candidates. iPierian plans to use precise human disease models to
find new molecular targets and develop proprietary therapeutic small molecule
or biologic drugs for its own pipeline to treat specific diseases.

SOURCE iPierian, Inc.

Julie McDonnell of iPierian, +1-650-872-4714, julie.mcdonnell@ipierian.com; or
Danielle Bertrand of WeissComm Partners, +1-415-946-1056,
dbertrand@wcpglobal.com, for iPierian