Regeneus responds to allegations in ABC report

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) has responded to a 7:30 story questioning whether the company has been misleading in its announcements about stem cell therapy Hi-Q-Cell.

The ABC’s story, which aired on Monday, stated that there are “medical and stock market concerns” about Hi-Q-Cell being offered to injured AFL players and other patients without clear clinical data showing a benefit.

The ABC interviewed some players and sports therapists for the story, and referenced a letter sent to the ASX complaining that Regeneus may have been misleading in its ASX announcements.

Among the concerns raised were that Regeneus may have attempted to falsely represent a confirmation that Hi-Q-Cell is not on a list of banned treatments for AFL players as approval or endorsement from the AFL, and that Regeneus had tried obfuscate the results of a trial by not stating that patients in the placebo group also experienced pain reduction.

But in an ASX announcement, Regeneus said it put out the AFL announcement after The Age independently reported that Hi-Q-Cell had been approved on a case-by-case basis, and asserted it did not believe that the announcement was misleading.

Regeneus said it was not aware of the ASX complaint letter until co-founder Dr Ben Herbert was asked about it on air, and alleged that the ABC reporter had been misleading about the ostensible reason for the interview, leaving Herbert unprepared to answer the questions.

Having now been made aware of the complaint, the company disputed claims it had been trying to obfuscate trial results, stating that it had detailed the placebo effect in different announcements and the trial results were not the focus of the AFL announcement.

The company said data from the trial in question show that Hi-Q-Cell is safe, reduces pain and halts cartilage degradation.

Regeneus further said it was concerned that the report may give the false impression that two former AFL players who had failed stem cell therapies for cartilage injuries that were interviewed for the story had been treated with Hi-Q-Cell, when in fact they had not.

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) shares fell 39.13% on Tuesday, the day after the report aired, and the company entered a trading halt on that day. The shares resumed trading yesterday after the company made its statement, gaining 3.57%. They were trading 24.14% higher at $0.180 as of around 2 pm on Friday.