BioLife Solutions Executes Supply Agreement with Iovance Biotherapeutics

BOTHELL, Wash., Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLFS), the leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of proprietary clinical grade biopreservation media ("BioLife" or the "Company"), today announced that it has executed an agreement to supply its CryoStor^® cell freeze media and HypoThermosol^® cell storage and shipping media to Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. ("Iovance") (NASDAQ: IOVA). Iovance is currently conducting several clinical trials for tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies targeting multiple solid tumor types including metastatic melanoma, recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and recurrent, metastatic or persistent cervical cancer.

Mike Rice, BioLife President & CEO, commented, "We are very pleased to support the team at Iovance in their mission to bring potentially lifesaving cancer therapies to the market. It's very rewarding to see our proprietary biopreservation media products being broadly adopted in the regenerative medicine market, due to the improved yield and extended shelf life our IP platform can offer our customers."

Commenting on the collaboration with BioLife Solutions, Maria Fardis, PhD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iovance, said, "As we advance into later stages of our clinical development, we continue building strong collaborative relationships with our suppliers and partners. We are pleased to have established this supply agreement with BioLife, assuring our access to biopreservation media for storage and shipment of our products using our Gen 2 manufacturing process, which includes cryopreservation of our final product."

BioLife management estimates that CryoStor and HypoThermosol have been incorporated into the manufacturing processes of at least 250 regenerative medicine applications, including numerous late-stage clinical trials.

About Iovance Biotherapeutics

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of cancer immunotherapy products for the treatment of various cancers. Iovance's lead product candidate is an adoptive cell therapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology being investigated for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma, recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and recurrent, metastatic or persistent cervical cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.iovance.com. 

Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" of Iovance. Iovance may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. In particular, Iovance's statements regarding trends and potential future results are examples of such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the success, timing and cost of Iovance's ongoing clinical trials and anticipated clinical trials for its current product candidates, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of the trials; the timing of and its ability to obtain and maintain U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other regulatory authority approval of, or other action with respect to, its product candidates; the strength of Iovance's product pipeline; the successful implementation of Iovance's research and development programs and collaborations; the success of the Iovance's license or development agreements; the acceptance by the market of Iovance's product candidates, if approved; and other factors, including general economic conditions and regulatory developments, not within Iovance's control. The factors discussed herein could cause actual results and developments to be materially different from those expressed in or implied by such statements.  A further list and description of Iovance's risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Iovance's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Iovance's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov or www.iovance.com. The forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release and Iovance undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstance.

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions develops, manufactures and markets biopreservation media products and smart shipping containers connected to a cloud hosted cold chain management app to improve the quality of delivery logistics for cells, tissues, and organs. The Company's proprietary HypoThermosol® and CryoStor® platform of solutions are highly valued in the regenerative medicine, biobanking, and drug discovery markets. BioLife's biopreservation media products are serum-free and protein-free, fully defined, and are formulated to reduce preservation-induced cell damage and death. BioLife's enabling technology provides commercial companies and clinical researchers significant improvement in shelf life and post-preservation viability and function of cells, tissues, and organs. For more information please visit www.biolifesolutions.com and follow BioLife on Twitter. 

Except for historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements of the Company within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the Company's anticipated business and operations, the potential utility of and market for its products and services, potential revenue growth and market expansion, commercial manufacturing of our customers' products, and potential customer revenue. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including among other things, uncertainty regarding market adoption of products; uncertainty regarding third party market projections; market volatility; competition; litigation; and those other factors described in the Company's risk factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein or to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof, other than as may be required by applicable law.

Media & Investor Relations
Roderick de Greef
Chief Financial Officer
(425) 686-6003
rdegreef@biolifesolutions.com

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SOURCE BioLife Solutions, Inc.