Athersys (ATHX) to Present at Regen Med Investor Day 2013 in New York

CLEVELAND, April 11, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Athersys, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHX) announced today that Chairman and CEO, Gil Van Bokkelen, will present at the 2013 Regen Med Investor Day to be held Wednesday, April 17, 2013 in New York City.

Organized by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) in partnership with leading financial firms Burrill & Company, Maxim Group and Piper Jaffray, this flagship event features sixteen of the regenerative medicine field’s leading small- and mid-cap companies. In addition, there will be disease indication focused discussions between key opinion leaders, top analysts and senior executives from the sector and keynote style talks by Jeff Jonas, President of Shire Regenerative Medicine, and Kieran Murphy, President and CEO, GE Healthcare Life Sciences.

The following are specific details regarding Athersys’ presentation at the conference:

Event:	ARM’s Regen Med Investor Day
Date:	April 17, 2013
Time:	1:15 p.m. EDT
Location:	Harmonie Club, 4 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022

A live video webcast of the company presentations will be available at: http://alliancerm.org/rmdaywebcast and will also be published on ARM’s website shortly after the event.

In addition to the corporate presentation, Dr. Van Bokkelen will also participate in a panel that will discuss how advanced approaches in regenerative medicine are being developed to address significant unmet medical needs in the neurological area. Athersys is focused on the development of MultiStem^® to treat acute and chronic neurological conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury, as well as other programs.

Attendance at this event is for credentialed investors and members of the media only. If you are interested in attending please contact Laura Parsons at lparsons@alliancerm.org. Please visit http://alliancerm.org/event/regen-med-investor-day for more information.

About Athersys

Athersys is a clinical stage biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutic product candidates designed to extend and enhance the quality of human life. The Company is developing its MultiStem^® cell therapy product, a patented, adult-derived “off-the-shelf” stem cell product platform for disease indications in the cardiovascular, neurological, inflammatory and immune disease areas. The Company currently has several clinical stage programs involving MultiStem, including treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, ischemic stroke, damage caused by myocardial infarction, and for the prevention of graft versus host disease. Athersys has also developed a diverse portfolio that includes other technologies and product development opportunities, and has forged strategic partnerships and collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as world-renowned research institutions in the United States and Europe to further develop its platform and products. More information is available at www.athersys.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the expected timetable for development of our product candidates, our growth strategy, and our future financial performance, including our operations, economic performance, financial condition, prospects, and other future events. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by using such words as “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “should,” “suggest,” “will,” or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and are largely based on our current expectations. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could affect the accuracy of these statements. Some of the more significant known risks that we face that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by forward-looking statements are the risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of discovering, developing, and commercializing products that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, such as the uncertainty regarding market acceptance of our product candidates and our ability to generate revenues, including MultiStem for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, acute myocardial infarction, stroke and other disease indications, including lysosomal storage disorders, and the prevention of graft-versus-host disease. These risks and uncertainties may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Other important factors to consider in evaluating our forward-looking statements include: our ability to raise additional capital; final results from our MultiStem clinical trials; the possibility of delays in, adverse results of, and excessive costs of the development process; our ability to successfully initiate and complete clinical trials and obtain all necessary regulatory approvals; changes in external market factors; changes in our industry’s overall performance; changes in our business strategy; our ability to protect our intellectual property portfolio; our possible inability to realize commercially valuable discoveries in our collaborations with pharmaceutical and other biotechnology companies; our ability to meet milestones under our collaboration agreements; our collaborators’ ability to continue to fulfill their obligations under the terms of our collaboration agreements; the success of our efforts to enter into new strategic partnerships and advance our programs; our possible inability to execute our strategy due to changes in our industry or the economy generally; changes in productivity and reliability of suppliers; and the success of our competitors and the emergence of new competitors. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT: William (B.J.) Lehmann, J.D.
         President and Chief Operating Officer
         Tel: (216) 431-9900
         bjlehmann@athersys.com

         Investor Relations:
         Lisa M. Wilson
         In-Site Communications
         Tel: (917) 543-9932
         lwilson@insitecony.com