BioRestorative Shutters Florida Office and Opens New HQ and Lab in New York

April 14, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

MELVILLE, N.Y.– BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. a life sciences company developing adult stem cell-based therapies for various medical applications, moved its corporate and laboratory operations to Long Island from Jupiter, Fla., the company announced this morning.

In 2014 BioRestorative Therapies (BRT) was awarded $500,000 in tax credits from Empire State Development (ESD), New York State’s economic development agency. Additionally the company was awarded an estimated $146,000 in sales tax exemptions and property tax abatement from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency to spur the move. As part of the deal BRT was required to hire 15 new full-time permanent employees at its Suffolk County headquarters by June 30, 2017, and to maintain that level of employment through Jan. 1, 2025.

The new Long Island site includes a new laboratory facility that will provide BRT with increased capabilities for the further development of possible additional cell-based treatments, products and protocols, stem cell-related intellectual property and translational research applications, the company said. The company said the expanded laboratory will include a current Good Manufacturing Practices facility that will enable BRT to develop brtxDISC, the company’s lead therapeutic product for its Disc/Spine program.

The brtxDISC (Disc Implanted Stem Cells) cell therapy candidate is formulated from autologous (a person’s own) cultured mesenchymal stem cells collected from the patient’s bone marrow. BRT intends the product will be used for the non-surgical treatment of protruding and bulging lumbar discs in patients suffering from chronic lumbar disc disease. The treatment involves collecting a patient’s own stem cells, culturing and cryopreserving the cells, and then having a physician inject brtxDISC into the patient’s damaged disc in an outpatient procedure. The treatment is intended for patients whose pain has not been alleviated by non-invasive procedures and who potentially face the prospect of surgery.

In January the company held a pre-investigational new drug meeting with regulators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the brtxDISC injectable. The company said the FDA did not see any obstacles regarding coming clinical trials for the treatment.

In addition to the brtxDISC injectable, BRT is also developing ThermoStem, an allogeneic cell-based therapy to target obesity and metabolic disorders using brown adipose (fat) derived stem cells to generate brown adipose tissue.

BRT has already begun operations at the Long Island site and has completely shuttered its facility in Florida. Mark Weinreb, BRT’s chief executive officer, said the new site in Suffolk County will allow the company to establish relationships with other area pharmaceutical and therapeutic companies for collaborative efforts. Long Island is the home to a number of pharmaceutical companies, including Rochem International Inc., Advance Pharmaceutical, Ascent Pharmaceuticals, Ortho Pharmaceuticals and more.

“We look forward to tapping into the highly-skilled workforce in this region as we expand our operations and advance our clinical programs that address important medical conditions and underserved patient populations,” Weinreb said in a statement.