SUNNYVALE, Calif. , Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Amarantus BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: AMBS), a biotechnology company developing new treatments and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury centred on its proprietary anti-apoptotis therapeutic protein MANF, today provided the following update to shareholders from its President & CEO Gerald E. Commissiong :

"The fundamental progress the Company has made since our First Annual CEO Letter was released in May has been quite significant. We have achieved the following milestones:

Positive animal proof-of concept data for MANF in the multi-billion dollar Myocardial Infarction market;

Secured the license for the NuroPro Parkinson's diagnostic blood test; and

Successfully concluded our research collaboration with Banyan Biomarkers, showing positive proof-of concept data for MANF in Traumatic Brain Injury.

While these developments are of significant importance for the Company, advancing MANF as a disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's disease continues to be our primary focus. We anticipate announcing interim results from on-going delivery experiments by the end of October. The Company is working to secure funding to advance MANF towards an Investigational New Drug filing for Parkinson's disease with the Food and Drug Administration.

As new and exciting proof-of-concept data for MANF in secondary therapeutic indications continues to be published by research laboratories throughout Europe , China , Japan and North America , the value of our intellectual property ("IP") portfolio is steadily increasing. We are continually expanding our IP portfolio for MANF by filing and aggregating new patents.

As we further carve-out our position as the partner of choice for any MANF-based product development effort, we expect that we will be successful in attracting the necessary financial commitments to move MANF into clinical testing based upon the success of experiments already underway. As we continue to show progress in Parkinson's disease, we will likely be in a good negotiating position with potential partners seeking to commercialize MANF both in Parkinson's and other medical conditions, which could create multiple partnering opportunities for the Company.

Amarantus' license for NuroPro, our clinical-stage Parkinson's disease diagnostic blood test, has several potential positive benefits for our MANF Parkinson's program including the identification of patients most likely to respond to MANF treatment. We intend to immediately pursue a partnering strategy for NuroPro and expect to update the marketplace once definitive agreements are reached. NuroPro could become a significant source of revenue for the Company within a relatively short period of time and its further development could have a major impact on the way Parkinson's disease is diagnosed and managed by physicians.