Vericel Announces Appointment of Michael Halpin as Senior Vice President, Quality and Regulatory Affairs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 10, 2017 -- Vericel Corporation (Nasdaq:VCEL), a leading developer of expanded autologous cell therapies for the treatment of patients with serious diseases and conditions, today announced the appointment of Michael Halpin as senior vice president, quality and regulatory affairs.

Mr. Halpin was formerly vice president, North American region regulatory head at Sanofi Genzyme, with responsibility for Sanofi Genzyme’s rare disease, immuno-inflammatory, multiple sclerosis and other business unit products.  Previously, Mr. Halpin served as vice president, regulatory affairs for Genzyme’s biosurgery division, with regulatory oversight of all biosurgery and cell and gene therapy products, including Carticel^®, Epicel^®, and MACI^®.  Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Halpin held a number of regulatory, quality, and clinical affairs positions at several medical device companies, including Abbott/MediSense, C.R. Bard, and Abiomed.  Mr. Halpin received his master’s degree in biomedical engineering and bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Virginia.

"Mike is a recognized global leader in the cell and gene therapy regulatory field, and he brings tremendous experience in the medical device field to Vericel," said Nick Colangelo, president and chief executive officer of Vericel. "Mike’s deep knowledge of our business and product portfolio will be extremely valuable to the Company as we continue to execute on our regulatory, product development and commercial strategies."

About Vericel Corporation
Vericel develops, manufactures, and markets expanded autologous cell therapies for the treatment of patients with serious diseases and conditions.  The company markets three cell therapy products in the United States.  Vericel is marketing MACI^® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane), an autologous cellularized scaffold product indicated for the repair of symptomatic, single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee with or without bone involvement in adults.  Carticel^® (autologous cultured chondrocytes) is an autologous chondrocyte implant for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee in patients who have had an inadequate response to a prior arthroscopic or other surgical repair procedure.  Epicel^® (cultured epidermal autografts) is a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep dermal or full thickness burns greater than or equal to 30% of total body surface area.  Vericel is also developing ixmyelocel-T, an autologous multicellular therapy intended to treat advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).  For more information, please visit the company's website at www.vcel.com.

Epicel^®, Carticel^®, and MACI^® are registered trademarks of Vericel Corporation.  © 2017 Vericel Corporation.  All rights reserved.

This document contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements concerning anticipated progress, objectives and expectations regarding the commercial potential of our products, intended product development, clinical activity timing, regulatory progress, and objectives and expectations regarding our company described herein, all of which involve certain risks and uncertainties. These statements are often, but are not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "plans," "expects," "we believe," "we intend," and similar words or phrases, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "potential," "could," "may," or similar expressions. Actual results may differ significantly from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that may result in differences are the inherent uncertainties associated with competitive developments, clinical trial and product development activities, regulatory approval requirements, estimating the commercial growth potential of our products and product candidates, market demand for our products, and our ability to supply or meet customer demand for our products. These and other significant factors are discussed in greater detail in Vericel's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 13, 2017, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and Vericel does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release except as required by law.

CONTACT:    
Chad Rubin
The Trout Group
[email protected]
(646) 378-2947
or
Lee Stern
The Trout Group
[email protected]
(646) 378-2922