Cardiac degeneration after a heart attack leads to progressive loss ofcardiac function ending in heart failure and death. This promising studywas conducted by Dr. Rachel Ruckdeschel Smith, Project Leader RegenerativeMedicine, at Capricor, will be presented today at the American HeartAssociation's 2008 Scientific Sessions. The presentation will take place atthe session entitled, Human Progenitor Cells and Myocardial and VascularRegeneration, located in room 271-273, at the Ernest N. Morial ConventionCenter in New Orleans.

"This study confirms our previously published preclinical work that CDCshave a strong therapeutic effect when applied to animal models of heartattack," said Oliver Foellmer, President and CEO at Capricor. "Preparationsfor a clinical trial testing CDCs in patients with recent heart attack arealready underway and we hope to file an IND with the FDA by the end of thisyear to investigate the beneficial impact that CDCs can have in patients."

In this preclinical study, Dr. Ruckdeschel Smith and research collaboratorsat Johns Hopkins Medical Center as well as the University of Rome, comparedtransplantation of human CDCs, highly purified human cardiac stem cells,and human heart derived mesenchymal like progenitor cells intoimmunodeficient mice that had induced myocardial infarcts. Many questionsremain to be answered on how various stem cells act when delivered into adamaged heart. "Capricor's CDCs represent a mixed population of multipleprogenitor lineages, acting synergistically to regrow heart muscle as wellas cardiac vasculature," said Dr. Ruckdeschel Smith. "In contrast, purifiedcardiac stem cells and mesenchymal like cells from the heart, whilemaintaining an individual effect showed significantly less benefit than theCDCs, which contain both these progenitor populations."

About Cardiosphere-derived Stem Cells

CPI-003, Capricor's lead product candidate, is an autologous adult stemcell product for the treatment of myocardial infarction. The productcontains multiple progenitor cells from the patient themselves, and isderived from a small heart muscle biopsy in an outpatient procedure. Thecells are multiplied in the laboratory, and then reintroduced to thepatient. This elegant autologous therapy represents the ultimatepersonalized medicine matching the patient both genetically andimmunologically. CDCs have an excellent safety profile and clinical trialsin cardiovascular indications are expected to initiate in 2009.

About Capricor Inc.

Capricor Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, California, is a leadingbiotechnology company that specializes in discovering, developing, andcommercializing biotherapeutics for the treatment of heart diseases.Capricor's mission is to revolutionize the treatment of cardiac disease bytranslating novel stem cell science into therapeutics that halt and reversethe disease process for patients, their families, and society in general.Further information can be found at the company's web site atwww.capricor.com.

CONTACT:Oliver FoellmerCapricor Inc.310.428.5793Email Contact