
HepaLife Completes Private Placement for $2.5
Million.
Boston, MA– May
15, 2007 HepaLife Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: HPLF) (FWB: HL1)
WKN: 500625), developing the first-of-its-kind artificial liver
device, is pleased to announce the completion of a private placement
of $2,500,000 of the Company’s Convertible Note to a single
institutional investor. The Convertible Note does not bear interest
except upon an event of default, at which time interest shall accrue
at the rate of 18% per annum. The Notes have a term of two years
and, generally, are convertible at any time during the term at
a price equal to price will be 95% of the trading volume weighted
average price, as reported by Bloomberg LP (the “VWAP”),
for the five trading days immediately prior to the date of notice
of conversion. Additionally, the Company also issued to the investor
670,000 share purchase warrants exercisable at $1.50 for a period
of five years.
The Company has agreed to file a registration
statement with US Securities and Exchange Commission to register
for resale the share issuable upon conversion of the Convertible
Note and exercise of the Warrant.
The net proceeds of $2,125,000 from this
private placement will be used for working capital and the further
development of the Company’s proprietary bioreactor system,
the main mechanical component of HepaLife’s patented bioartificial
liver device, which recently successfully replicated the liver’s
key function –
removal of toxic ammonia and synthesis of urea. Researchers
consider this ability vital to successfully replicating the human
liver’s function in an artificial liver device.
Additional information on HepaLife’s
recent important research milestones, including outperforming the
world’s most widely-used liver cell line, can be obtained by
viewing these links:
http://www.hepalife.com/20070430-1.html.php
and
http://www.hepalife.com/20070410-1.html.php.
The need for an artificial liver device
able to remove toxins and improve immediate and long-term survival
results is more critical today than ever before. Limited treatment
options, a low number of donor organs, the high price of transplants
and follow up costs, a growing base of hepatitis, alcohol abuse,
drug overdoses, and other factors that result in liver disease all
clearly indicate a strong need for an artificial liver device.
The World Health Organization estimates
that 10% of the world’s population has chronic liver disease,
including 25 million Americans. In China alone, half a million die
of the disease each year. Currently 17,000 Americans are awaiting
liver transplants, approximately six times greater than the number
of patients awaiting heart transplantation. Last year, only 30% of
those in need of liver transplantation were transplanted due to a
severe lack of donor livers available.
In response, the National Institutes
of Health has issued its formal Action Plan for Liver Disease Research,
stating in part, “In the area of acute liver failure, the primary
goals of research should be in developing means to prevent acute
liver failure and ameliorate its course….Most helpful would
be an artificial or bioartificial liver assist device that could
be used to sustain patients and serve as a bridge to liver transplantation,
which is the only effective treatment that is currently available
for fulminant hepatic failure.”
HepaLife’s patented artificial
liver device, currently under development, is designed to operate
outside the patient’s body (extracorporeal). The machine
mimics important functions of the human liver by circulating the
patient’s blood inside the artificial liver device where it
is exposed to HepaLife’s patented PICM-19 liver cells inside
the bioreactor unit.
Once inside the bioreactor unit, researchers
anticipate HepaLife’s artificial liver device will process
the patient’s blood-plasma using the Company’s PICM-19
liver cells, removing toxins, enhancing metabolic function, and ultimately,
imitating the liver’s function. In contrast to HepaLife’s
biological process, conventional filtration or dialysis systems rely
on mechanical methods, limited to merely filtering toxins from the
blood.
ABOUT HEPALIFE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
HepaLife Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: HPLF
- News; FWB: HL1) (WKN: 500625) is a biotechnology company focused
on the identification and development of cell-based technologies
and products.
Current cell-based technologies under
development by HepaLife include 1) the first-of-its-kind artificial
liver device, 2) proprietary in-vitro toxicology and pre-clinical
drug testing platforms, and 3) novel cell-culture based vaccine production
to protect against the spread of influenza viruses among humans,
including potentially the high pathogenicity H5N1 virus.
For additional information, please visit www.hepalife.com.
To receive future press releases via
email, please visit:
http://www.hepalife.com/investor-alerts.php
To view the full HTML text of this release,
please visit:
http://www.hepalife.com/20070515-1.html.php
# # # #
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
No statement herein should be considered an offer
or a solicitation of an offer for the purchase or sale of any securities.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon
current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions
about future events. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon
which they are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that
such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct.
Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe
our future plans, strategies, and expectations, are generally identifiable
by use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” or “project” or
the negative of these words or other variations on these words or
comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned not to put undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements
are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including but
not limited to adverse economic conditions, intense competition,
lack of meaningful research results, entry of new competitors and
products, adverse federal, state and local government regulation,
inadequate capital, unexpected costs and operating deficits, increases
in general and administrative costs, termination of contracts or
agreements, technological obsolescence of the Company's products,
technical problems with the Company's research and products, price
increases for supplies and components, litigation and administrative
proceedings involving the Company, the possible acquisition of new
businesses or technologies that result in operating losses or that
do not perform as anticipated, unanticipated losses, the possible
fluctuation and volatility of the Company's operating results, financial
condition and stock price, losses incurred in litigating and settling
cases, dilution in the Company's ownership of its business, adverse
publicity and news coverage, inability to carry out research, development
and commercialization plans, loss or retirement of key executives
and research scientists, changes in interest rates, inflationary
factors, and other specific risks. We currently have no commercial
products intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease.
The statements contained in this press release regarding our on going
research and development and the results attained by us to-date have
not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. There can
be no assurance that further research and development, and /or whether
clinical trial results, if any, will validate and support the results
of our preliminary research and studies. Further, there can be no
assurance that the necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained
or that HepaLife will be able to develop commercially viable products
on the basis of its technologies. In addition, other factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in
the Company's most recent Form 10-Q and Form 10-K filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports and filings may
be inspected and copied at the Public Reference Room maintained by
the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission at 100 F Street, N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20549. You can obtain information about operation
of the Public Reference Room by calling the U.S. Securities & Exchange
Commission at 1-800-SEC-0330. The U.S. Securities & Exchange
Commission also maintains an Internet site that contains reports,
proxy and information statements, and other information regarding
issuers that file electronically with the U.S. Securities & Exchange
Commission at http://www.sec.gov.
The Company makes no commitment to publicly release the results of
any revisions to these forward looking statements that may be made
to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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