SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Amarantus BioScience Holdings, Inc. ( AMBS ), a biotechnology company discovering and developing treatments and diagnostics for diseases associated with neurodegeneration and apoptosis, today announced it has signed a laboratory services agreement with BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) , a leading global medical technology company, under which BD’s BD Biosciences Custom Technology Team will perform sample analysis on Amarantus’ LymPro Test® for Alzheimer’s disease. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“The LymPro Test is potentially the first available blood test for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Gerald E. Commissiong, President & CEO of Amarantus. “With this agreement, we expect to have initial data available in the third quarter of 2013, and now have the capabilities required to place LymPro on a path for commercialization in 2014.”

Amarantus and BD Biosciences will be focused on verifying the analytical performance characteristics of LymPro necessary to achieve reproducibility of the assay. Over time, Amarantus expects to execute multiple clinical studies and begin worldwide sales of LymPro as the first diagnostic blood test for Alzheimer’s disease.

About Amarantus

Amarantus is a development-stage biotechnology company founded in January 2008. The Company has a focus on developing certain biologics surrounding the intellectual property and proprietary technologies it owns to treat and/or diagnose Parkinson's disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Ischemic Heart Disease and other human diseases. The Company owns the intellectual property rights to a therapeutic protein known as Mesencephalic-Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor ("MANF") and is developing MANF-based products as treatments for brain disorders. The Company also is a Founding Member of the Coalition for Concussion Treatment (#C4CT), a movement initiated in collaboration with Brewer Sports International seeking to raise awareness of new treatments in development for concussions and nervous-system disorders. The Company also owns intellectual property and licenses for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. For further information please visit  www.Amarantus.com .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the possible progress of the MANF technology in testing for Parkinson’s disease, as well as statements about expectations, plans and prospects of the development of Amarantus' diagnostic product candidates for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks associated with development of therapeutic drug candidates, as well as the risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the development of Amarantus' new product candidates, including those identified under "Risk Factors" in Amarantus' most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in other filings Amarantus periodically makes with the SEC. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements Amarantus 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 presentation.