STAMFORD, CT--(Marketwire - Aug 28, 2012) - Noble Financial Capital Markets (Noble) announced today that Australian company, Mesoblast (ASX: MSB) (PINKSHEETS: [ MBLTY ]) will be among the 30 life sciences companies to attend BIOX, an investor exposition to be held at the University of Connecticut in Stamford, CT on September 24-25, 2012. Australia is a leading location for biotechnology companies in Asia Pacific with 470 core biotechnology companies; 49 percent are in human therapeutics. The country has a well-established medical device industry, a strong position in nano-biotechnology, and is internationally regarded for its expertise in stem cell research. With market capitalization of close to $2 billion USD, Mesoblast is the world's leading developer of innovative biological products for the broad field of regenerative medicine. The company's commercial strategy is based on its unique proprietary adult mesenchymal precursor cells.

Stem cell therapy companies are now beginning to emerge with novel mechanisms to fight any given number of indications. Stem cell technology is extremely time and money intensive. Leaders in the space demonstrate varying levels of success, different approaches of creating and applying the stem cell therapies, and varied levels of partnership and investor contributions. Understanding what differentiates one from another and how to rank and evaluate each company's potential is an ongoing investor challenge. While failures are costly, successes lead to FDA approvals, huge marketability with little competition, and profitable licensing deals or acquisition by large Pharma.

"A good example of stem cell validation is the strategic alliance of Mesoblast and Teva Pharmaceuticals," said Nathan Cali, Noble's Senior Research Analyst. "The fact that a large pharmaceutical company like Teva is funding all late-stage clinical development and the sales and marketing costs for product commercialization of Mesoblast's novel adult stem cell therapies [for degenerative conditions of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems], speaks volumes as to the advancements in cell therapy," he said. "At BIOX investors will have access to a cross section of some of the most important players in the space -- exciting stuff," he added.

In addition to Mesoblast, companies involved in cell therapy that are expected to attend are: Athersys (ATHX), Cytori (CYTX), Cytomedix (CMXI), ISTO Technologies (Private Company), Pluristem (PSTI), Prima Biomed (PBMD) and Neostem (NBS).

Two, one-hour panels will be devoted to regenerative medicine with world renowned opinion leaders Dr. Charles Vacanti (Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Mark Noble (University of Rochester) joining select corporate executives to discuss and debate the latest scientific advancements. Additionally, two panels will cover some of today's most relevant life sciences topics including immunotherapy and targeted oncology. Organized breakout sessions, scheduled one-on-one meeting between executives and investors, and an evening networking function rounds-out the agenda.

Investor participation is by invitation only.

Conference website: [ http://www.nobleresearch.com/BioExposition.htm ]