Iconic Labs Regulatory News (ICON)

22 October 2018

WideCells Group PLC ('WideCells Group' or 'the Group')

CellPlan deal with Smart Cells

WideCells Group PLC, the healthcare services group focused on providing stem cell services and ground-breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, is pleased to announce that its stem cell healthcare insurance subsidiary, CellPlan, has signed a partnership agreement with a leading international stem cell extraction and storage company, Smart Cells.

Under the terms of the agreement, Smart Cells, which has offices in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and the Far East, will offer CellPlan's innovative insurance plan to its 60,000 clients across multiple geographies. The staged roll-out will commence in Spain within the next four weeks, followed by the UK and then worldwide. With CellPlan operations already in place in Spain and the UK CellPlan can commence stem cell insurance sales soon, unlocking revenue from Smart Cell's existing and new client base.

WideCell's CEO, João Andrade, said, "We are delighted to be working closely with Smart Cells, which is a well-established and respected global company, to enhance its offering with our unique stem cell treatment insurance plan and increase CellPlan's own profile worldwide. This is a seminal deal for CellPlan, in line with our corporate strategy focused on building revenue growth and delivering accessible and affordable cell treatments to more people."

Smart Cells CEO, Shamshad Ahmed, said, "I believe that this partnership will be mutually beneficial for both companies and especially useful for our clients all over the world. I look forward to cooperating with CellPlan and working together on the global rollout of re-enhanced services." 

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit the Group's website www.widecellsgroup.com, follow us on Twitter @WideCells_Group or contact:

Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments both accessible and affordable. This is delivered through two divisions:

· CellPlan: the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process.

· WideCells: The Institute of Stem Cell Technology has been established and is based in the University of Manchester Innovation Centre to focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. WideCells also has international cryogenics divisions specialising in stem cell storage.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

· Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families, because it is simple, safe and painless to collect, relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow - WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of cord blood.

· Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells.

· 82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures.

· Despite initial collection and storage often costing no more than a few £thousands, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands - before the development of an insurance product such as CellPlan, the treatment remained largely available only to Higher Net Worth individuals.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR).