Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG) Appoints Two New Members To Scientific Advisory Board

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 30, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (Nasdaq:CBMG) ("CBMG" or the "Company"), a biomedicine firm engaged in the development of effective stem cell therapies for degenerative diseases and immunotherapies for cancer, today announced the appointment of Scott J. Antonia, M.D, Ph.D. and Guoping Fan, Ph.D., as members of the newly established Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Antonia will advise the company on immuno-oncology and Dr. Fan will advise the company on stem cell technology and its applications.

"We are extremely delighted at the opportunity to benefit from the experience and knowledge of each of these doctors, which will fortify our Immuno-Oncology and Stem Cell platforms," said William (Wei) Cao, Chief Executive Officer for the Company. "Dr. Antonia is one of the foremost experts in the field of immuno-oncology and as a principal investigator of multiple high profile immuno-oncology clinical trials, including anti-PD-1 therapy for advanced lung cancer, has made significant strides with gene-modified tumor cell vaccine development. His research and experience in designing immunotherapy studies will no doubt advance our development of combination therapies for cancer, both in China and internationally. Professor Fan, an outstanding stem cell and neuro cell biologist, has made major contributions in the field of neuroscience and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying stem cell regulation, reprogramming, and human diseases. We look forward to Dr. Fan's research advances in the understanding of how stem cells self-renew and differentiate into specific cell types and leads to therapies for eye and neurodegenerative diseases."

"I look forward to working with Cellular Biomedicine Group in order to help bring to market safe and effective cancer therapeutics for such a large unmet medical need," said Dr. Antonia.

"I am excited to be working with Cellular Biomedicine Group's dedicated scientific and management team in order to help translate stem cell discoveries into medical applications," commented Professor Fan.

About Dr. Scott Antonia

Scott Antonia serves as department chair and program leader, Thoracic Oncology and program leader of the Immunology Program at Moffitt Cancer Center. He is a professor of oncology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Antonia's research and clinical interests focus on immunotherapy and immunobiology. He has designed and conducted numerous cutting-edge studies with novel immunotherapeutics and has two patents for technology he has developed. Dr. Antonia received both his medical degree and a doctorate in immunology from the University of Connecticut Health Center. He completed an internal medicine residency at Yale University School of Medicine and pursued additional training at Yale through a medical oncology fellowship and post-doctoral fellowship in immunobiology. Dr. Antonia has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications.

About Dr. Guoping Fan

Dr. Guoping Fan is a Professor in the Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of Los Angeles (UCLA) and a member in the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research. He has been a faculty member at UCLA since 2001. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Institute, where he studies the role of DNA methylation and neurotrophins in neural development. Professor Fan earned his B.S. in Biochemistry at Nanjing University, China and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University. His current research focuses on the actions of DNA methylation and chromatin-remodeling in regulating neural gene expression, neuronal function, and stem cell differentiation and reprogramming. Professor Fan has published more than 80 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, and Cell Stem Cell.

Under Dr. Fan's leadership his team has demonstrated that DNA cytosine methylation plays a major role in regulating neural stem cell differentiation and adult brain function. Dr. Fan also derives specific nerve and retinal cells from embryotic stem cells for cell therapy of stroke and age-related macular degeneration.

About Cellular Biomedicine Group

Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc. develops proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of certain degenerative diseases and cancers. Our developmental stem cell, progenitor cell, and immune cell projects are the result of research and development by scientists and doctors from China and the United States. Our flagship GMP facility, consisting of eight independent cell production lines, is designed, certified and managed according to U.S. standards. To learn more about CBMG, please visit: www.cellbiomedgroup.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, trends, specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, risk factors inherent in doing business. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "plans," "intends," "estimates," "potential," or "continue," or similar terms or the negative of these terms. Although CBMG believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they cannot guarantee that future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements will be obtained. CBMG does not have any obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law.

CONTACT: Sarah Kelly Director of Corporate Communications, CBMG +1 650 566-5064 [email protected] Vivian Chen Managing Director Investor Relations, Grayling +1 347 481-3711 [email protected]