Pluristem Appoints Prof. Varda Shalev MD and Mr. Doron Birger to Join its Board of Directors

HAIFA, Israel, July 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Nasdaq: PSTI) (TASE: PSTI), a leading biotechnology company, today announced the Board of Director appointments of Prof. Varda Shalev, a physician, medical researcher, and Professor of Medicine at the Tel Aviv University’s School of Public Health, and Mr. Doron Birger, a high-tech industry executive with a background in bringing groundbreaking products to market.

Prof. Shalev has more than 30 years of experience working in clinical environments and research settings at the intersection of health and technology. She was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the KSM Institute of Research and Innovation and Maccabitech, the epidemiological and clinical research arm of Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services, where she established the largest biobank in Israel and developed a computerized system for predicting the risk of colon cancer in patients using a database of two million people. This work led Maccabi Healthcare Services to win the Director General of the Ministry of Health's Excellence in Logistics in Health Systems award. Prof. Shalev founded the Department of Medical Informatics at Maccabi Healthcare Services and was the head of Primary Care division of Maccabi Healthcare Services.

Prof.Shalev is Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of the digital health startup, Alike, which is developing an artificial intelligence-based platform to empower patients to track their own health conditions. In addition to informatics and predictive analytics, Prof. Shalev’s research expertise includes epidemiology. She has authored more than 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals and was included in the Marker newspaper’s list of “100 Most Influential People.” Prof. Shalev earned her medical degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, School of Medicine, her Master of Public Health Administration from Clark University in the United States and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in Medical Informatics at Johns Hopkins.

Mr. Birger is a prominent business leader with more than 30 years of experience in the Israeli high-tech sector as a chief executive officer, board chairman, director, and advisor to several private and publicly traded firms, with an emphasis in the life science industry.

Mr. Birger served as the president and Chief Executive Officer of Elron from 2002 to 2009. At Elron, he successfully led the development and acceleration of numerous cutting-edge technology firms, including multiple mergers and public offerings. He currently chairs several technology companies, including Sight Diagnostic, Ultrasight, Nurami, Matricelf (TASE: MTLF), and Intelicanna (TASE: INTL).

Mr. Birger was also the Chairman of the Board at Given Imaging from 2002 to 2007, and a director until it was sold to Covidien in 2014. From 1978 to 2001, Mr. Birger was Chief Financial Officer at several companies from various sectors, including the Chief Financial Officer of Elron from 1994-2001. He is currently a director in a variety of medical device and advanced technology companies, including IceCure (TASE: ICCM), Citrine Global (OTCQB: CTGL), Kadimastem (TASE: KDST), HeraMED (ASX: HMD) Vibrant, and Netive Haor. Mr. Birger earned his bachelor’s degree and Master of Economics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

“By harnessing the regenerative power of placenta cells using our unique bioreactor for cell expansion, Pluristem believes that it is poised to unlock a new generation of medical treatments,” said Pluristem Executive Chairman of the Board, Zami Aberman. “Prof. Shalev and Mr. Birger both bring unique expertise and experience that we believe will provide invaluable insight as we move our product candidate pipelines forward. Their combined 60 years of life science experience, both clinical and commercial, are perfectly aligned for Pluristem’s mission to potentially bring its PLX cells to market and reach patients around the world. Pluristem’s strategic goals will be served well by their skillsets and counsel.”

About Pluristem Therapeutics

Pluristem is pushing the boundaries of science and engineering to reimagine pharmacological treatments and improve the standard of care. The Company’s cell therapies advance the field of regenerative medicine, with potentially groundbreaking applications for treating damaged muscle, hematology deficiencies, and inflammation. Pluristem sources its therapeutic cells from the placenta, an ethically accepted and potent source. Cells are easy to collect and do not require blood or tissue matching. Cells from one placenta can treat 20,000 patients. The Company’s manufacturing platform, the bioreactor, is a patented and validated state-of-the-art 3D cell expansion system, designed to mimic the human body. Pluristem’s method is uniquely accurate, cost-effective, and consistent batch-to-batch.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other U.S. Federal securities laws. For example, Pluristem is using forward-looking statements when it discusses its belief that it is poised to unlock a new generation of medical treatments and that its new directors will enhance the Board's strategic goals in preparation for future growth and commercialization endeavors. These forward-looking statements and their implications are based on the current expectations of the management of Pluristem only, and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in technology and market requirements; Pluristem may encounter delays or obstacles in launching and/or successfully completing its clinical trials; Pluristem’s products may not be approved by regulatory agencies, Pluristem’s technology may not be validated as it progresses further and its methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; Pluristem may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of its products; unforeseen scientific difficulties may develop with Pluristem’s process; Pluristem’s products may wind up being more expensive than it anticipates; results in the laboratory may not translate to equally good results in real clinical settings; results of preclinical studies may not correlate with the results of human clinical trials; Pluristem’s patents may not be sufficient; Pluristem’s products may harm recipients; changes in legislation may adversely impact Pluristem; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of Pluristem to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, Pluristem undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Pluristem, reference is made to Pluristem's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:

Dana Rubin

Director of Investor Relations

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at