Pluristem: Second Patient With ‘Life-Saving’ Cells Died

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (PSTI) said a second of the three patients given the company’s experimental stem cells has died after Pluristem touted the treatments as “life-saving.”

Pluristem shares soared after the Haifa, Israel-based company issued news releases in May, August and September announcing the treatments. Pluristem raised $34 million in a share sale in September without announcing that the first of those patients, a 7-year-old girl with a bone-marrow disease, had died. The company issued a press release today acknowledging the death of a second patient, though it wouldn’t say when the death occurred.

Pluristem sank the most in 21 months in Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday after Bloomberg News reported Pluristem hadn’t disclosed the girl’s death before the share sale. The company said today it wasn’t aware of her death at the time of the offering.

“The pediatric patient referred to in the Bloomberg article survived for six months, another patient survived for four months, and the third is still alive,” the company said in today’s statement. “Pluristem believes that these results exceeded longevity expectations. The unfortunate...