Advanced Cell Technology Expands Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (Cloning) and Cellular Reprogramming Intellectual Property Portfolio

Advanced Cell Technology Expands Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (Cloning) and Cellular Reprogramming Intellectual Property Portfolio: "Advanced Cell Technology Expands Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (Cloning) and Cellular Reprogramming Intellectual Property Portfolio
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ACT's IP portfolio collectively represents one of the strongest in the field

WORCESTER, Mass., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A.C.T. Holdings, Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Board: ACTH) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Advanced Cell
Technology, Inc. (collectively, 'ACT') announced today that ACT has entered
into two separate agreements to expand its portfolio of intellectual property
in regard to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and cellular reprogramming.
In the first agreement, ACT acquired an option to exclusively license
cloning patents from TranXenoGen, Inc. of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The
patents include US patents 5,480,772; 5,651,992; 5,773,217; 6,245,567;
6,753,457; and 6,878,546. This patent family includes granted claims related
to somatic cell nuclear transfer and the use of oocytes and oocyte extracts to
reprogram somatic cells. Separately, ACT announced today that it has acquired
the patents to a second generation cloning technology known as 'cell fusion'
and additional patents related to their gene trap technology. The patents
include published US patent applications numbers 20030224345, 20040199935, and
20040219563 which describe the fusion of the cytoplasm of egg cells, or
embryonic stem cells with somatic cells to reprogram the somatic cells back to
a pluripotent stem cell state and the use of gene trap technology to identify
and induce differentiation of stem cells. These newly licensed patents are in
addition to the 31 patents and over 280 patent applications pending worldwide
that ACT owns or has lic"