Pappas Capital Announces the Passing of…

CLEVELAND, Sept. 28, 2016 – Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) announced today that it has received agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the design and planned analysis of a Phase 3 clinical trial of Athersys' novel MultiStem® cell therapy product for the treatment of ischemic stroke. The SPA provides agreement from the FDA that the protocol design, clinical endpoints, planned conduct and statistical analyses encompassed in Athersys' planned Phase 3 study are acceptable to support a regulatory submission for approval of the MultiStem product for treating ischemic stroke patients. The results from the Phase 3 trial entitled, "MultiStem Administration for Stroke Treatment and Enhanced Recovery Study-2" (MASTERS-2), together with other available clinical data, would provide the foundation of the regulatory package to be submitted for marketing approval.