(laromestrocel) is considered an investigational product in The Bahamas, under the approval terms from the National Stem Cell Ethics Committee, we are permitted to charge a fee to participate in the Registry Trial.
Since our founding in 2014, we have focused the majority of our time and resources on the following: organizing and staffing our company, building, staffing and equipping a cGMP manufacturing facility with research and development labs, business planning, raising capital, establishing our intellectual property portfolio, generating clinical safety and efficacy data in our selected disease conditions and indications, and developing and expanding our manufacturing processes and capabilities.
We manufacture all of our own product candidates for clinical trials. In 2017 we opened a manufacturing facility comprised of eight clean rooms, two research and development laboratories, and warehouse and storage space. We have supply contracts with multiple third parties for fresh bone marrow, which we use to produce our product candidate for clinical testing and research and development. From time to time, we enter into contract development and manufacturing contracts or arrangements with third parties who seek to utilize our product development capabilities.
Since the time that we became a publicly traded company in February 2021, we have sold 12,686,240 shares of Class A common stock through our IPO and subsequent follow-on public and private equity offerings and transactions. Additionally, as of March 31, 2025, warrants exercisable for an aggregate of up to 6,802,668 shares of a Company's Class A common stock remain outstanding at exercise prices ranging from $2.35 per share to $175.00 per share.
When appropriate funding opportunities arise, we routinely apply for grant funding to support our ongoing research and since 2016 we have received approximately $16.0 million in grant awards ($11.5 million of which has been directly awarded to us and is recognized as revenue when the performance obligations are met) from the National Institute on Aging (“NIA”) of the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (“NHLBI”) of the NIH, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (“MSCRF”) of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, or TEDCO.
HLHS
Our HLHS program is focused on the potential clinical benefits of laromestrocel as an adjunct therapeutic to standard-of-care HLHS surgery. HLHS is a rare and devastating congenital heart defect in which the left ventricle is severely underdeveloped. As such, babies born with this condition die shortly after birth without undergoing a complex series of reconstructive heart surgeries. Despite the availability of life-saving surgical interventions, clinical studies show that only 50 to 60 percent of affected individuals survive to adolescence. Early clinical study data shows the potential survival benefit of Lomecel-B™ (laromestrocel) for HLHS patients and supports Longeveron’s belief that these data show the potential to alter the treatment landscape for patients with HLHS. We have completed a Phase 1 open-label study (“ELPIS I”)1 that supported the safety and tolerability of Lomecel-B™ (laromestrocel) for HLHS, when directly injected into the functional right ventricle ("RV") during the second-stage standard-of-care surgery (adding minimal additional time to the surgical procedure). Preliminary data revealed that several indices of right ventricular function show suggestions of either improvement or prevention of deterioration over one year following surgery. Heart transplant-free survival for patients who received Lomecel-B™ (laromestrocel) intracardiac injection is favorable as compared to historical controls for survival. The ELPIS I trial showed 100 percent transplant-free survival in children up to 5 years after receiving Lomecel-BTM (laromestrocel), compared to a 20 percent mortality rate observed from historical control data. The improvement in HLHS survival following the Phase 1 ELPIS I clinical trial resulted in scientific presentations at the American Heart Association (“AHA”) in November 2023 and Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society's 51st Annual Meeting in October 2024.
Based on these findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) granted Lomecel-B™ (laromestrocel) Rare Pediatric Disease (“RPD”) Designation, Orphan Drug Designation (“ODD”), and Fast Track Designation for treatment of infants with HLHS. On September 3, 2024 Longeveron announced a positive Type C meeting with the FDA supporting the advancement of Lomecel-B™ (laromestrocel). Longeveron is currently conducting a controlled Phase 2b trial (“ELPIS II”) to compare the effects of laromestrocel as an adjunct therapeutic versus standard-of-care (HLHS surgery alone). We hope that a positive outcome could add to the clinical data suggesting the clinical benefit of laromestrocel as part of standard-of-care treatment in HLHS patients.
As a result of the Type C meeting, we reached foundational alignment with the FDA on the registrational path to pursue traditional approval for laromestrocel for treatment of HLHS, based on the proposed clinical development program, which includes the ongoing Phase 2b ELPIS II study as the pivotal study to provide primary evidence of effectiveness.
1 Sunjay Kaushal, M.D., Ph.D, Joshua M Hare, M.D., Jessica R Hoffman, Ph.D, Riley M Boyd, BA, Kevin N Ramdas, M.D., MPH, Nicholas Pietris, M.D., Shelby Kutty, M.D., Ph.D, MS, James S Tweddell, M.D., S Adil Husain, M.D., Shaji C Menon, MBBS, M.D., MS, Linda M Lambert, MSN-cFNP, David A Danford, M.D., Seth J Kligerman, M.D., Narutoshi Hibino, M.D., Ph.D, Laxminarayana Korutla, Ph.D, Prashanth Vallabhajosyula, M.D., MS, Michael J Campbell, M.D., Aisha Khan, Ph.D, Eric Naioti, MSPH, Keyvan