Posted on February 25, 2008 by jrowley
Q Therapeutics, a cell therapy company focusing on neural applications, recently announced a $15M series B financing that included funding from multiple venture capital (VC) groups as well as biotech tools provider Invitrogen. Q’s lead product, Q-Cells™, is an allogeneic product intended to restore function to damaged neurons by providing trophic (e.g. cytokines, growth [...]
Filed under: Bioprocessing, Clinical Trials, Company Profiles, MS, Manufacturing, Neural Repair, Q Therapeutics, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, stem cells | Tagged: symbiotic business relationships, cell therapy tools, cell therapy development, GMP-grade kits and reagents | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 14, 2008 by jrowley
ES cell biopsy from blastocyst.
Filed under: Advanced Cell Technology, Athersys, Clinical Trials, Cytori, Embyonic Stem Cells, FDA, Geron, JNJ, Novocell, Osiris, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, spinal cord injury, stem cells | Tagged: Clinical Trials, embryonic vs adult stem cell, embyryonic stem cell 2008, evolving clinical landscape, safety issues | No Comments »
Posted on February 1, 2008 by jrowley
Cytori Therapeutics announced that they have enrolled their first two patients in an acute myocardial infarction clinical trial using adipose-derived cells prepared using their Celution™ device. The Celution™ device is an automated, tissue processing unit that isolates cells from adipose tissue derived via liposuction.
Filed under: Bioprocessing, Clinical Trials, Company Profiles, Cytori, Device-centric cell therapies, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, autologous, cardiac regeneration, cell delivery, patient specific cell therapy, personalized medicine, stem cells | No Comments »
Posted on January 12, 2008 by jrowley
Osiris Therapeutics announced that they won a DoD contract worth up to $224.7 million for developing their adult mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapeutic for treating acute radiation exposure. The contract allows for reimbursement of up to $24.7 million for continued development of their Prochymal product, and then, once the product is FDA approved for [...]
Filed under: Clinical Trials, DoD, MSCs, Osiris, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, business models, stem cells | Tagged: Acute Radiation Therapy, DoD contract, Mesenchymal Stem Cell product, near term revenue, Prochymal, Type 1 diabetes | No Comments »
Posted on January 4, 2008 by jrowley
I have recently signed up for the StemCellPatents.com weekly newsletter, and it is great to keep updated on all the patents that get issued in regenerative medicine. In the most recent newletter, they reported on two patents that issued last week that strengthen Celgene’s patent estate in adult stem cells. Celgene got into the stem [...]
Filed under: Biomaterials, Celgene, Intellectual Property, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, placenta stem cells, stem cells | Tagged: acquisition, Anthrogenesis, Celgene, patent strategy, placenta stem cells | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 31, 2007 by jrowley
The FDA has scheduled an April 10, 2008 meeting to “discuss scientific considerations for safety testing for cellular therapy products derived from human embryonic stem cells.” This meeting will be followed by another meeting on April 11 that will “discuss updates on 1) research management related to the September 29, 2005 review of research programs [...]
Filed under: Advanced Cell Technology, Clinical Trials, Embyonic Stem Cells, FDA, Geron, Novocell, Regenerative Medicine, cell delivery, regulatory, stem cells | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2007 by jrowley
Pfizer Global Research and Development (PGRD) has been going through some major restructuring, and in an effort to spur innovation has opened an independent research center in the Bay Area. This “biotherapeutics and bioinnovation center” will be headed up by experienced bioentrepreneur Corey Goodman. Is it possible that this could lead to some [...]
Filed under: Big Pharma, Innovation, stem cells | Tagged: Big Pharma, Innovation | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2007 by jrowley
Osiris Therapeutics last week announced positive data that came out of their Phase I/II double blinded Chondrogen trial. They demonstrated statistically significant improvements in joint pain in patients with osteoarthritis, however this seems to be an about face compared to when they announced their “disappointing” (the CEO’s words) interim 6 [...]
Filed under: Biomaterials, Clinical Trials, Osiris, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, cartilage, orthopedics, stem cells | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 30, 2007 by jrowley
Senators Sam Brownback (R-Kan) and Mary Landrieu (D-La) introduced the Human-Animal Hybrid Prohibition Act to Congress last week that would make outlaws of scientists that create part human, part animal beings. According to a white paper published by Friends of the Earth, “A human-animal hybrid is an organism with both human and animal [...]
Filed under: ethics, politics, regulatory, stem cells | No Comments »
Posted on November 26, 2007 by jrowley
CellCyte Genetics Corporation recently announced that US Patent No 7,282,222 was issued, a patent which they have exclusive rights to. The press release states that the patent covers unique methods and compositions “to deliver and direct stem cells to target organs in the body”, including cardiac tissue.
The focus of the patent addresses cell retention at [...]
Filed under: Clinical Trials, Intellectual Property, Regenerative Medicine, cardiac regeneration, cell delivery, stem cells | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 21, 2007 by jrowley
I do not want to undermine the importance of the great work that was done in generating pluripotent stem cells from adult skin cells, but the only thing I think about when hearing this news is TIME and MONEY. I know I will be fielding questions from my friends and relatives over Thanksgiving weekend [...]
Filed under: Regenerative Medicine, stem cells | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 20, 2007 by jrowley
On November 15, 2007, Athersys announced in a press release that they had received a letter from the FDA giving the green light to start a Phase I safety study of MultiStem, their adult, allogeneic stem cell product. Athersys will start an open label, dose escalation trial to test their cells after bone marrow transplantation.
This [...]
Filed under: Athersys, Clinical Trials, FDA, MSCs, Osiris, Regenerative Medicine, adult stem cell, stem cells | Tagged: adult stem cells, Athersys, business model, stem cells clinical trials | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 20, 2007 by jrowley
An interesting study was published this week in the Journal of Neuroimmunology spurring a press release from Geron that stated “GERON’S HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM (ES) CELL-BASED THERAPEUTIC FOR SPINAL CORD INJURY EVADES DIRECT ATTACK BY THE HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEM”. The title is a little misleading since the cells really only evade immune cells in an [...]
Filed under: Advanced Cell Technology, Clinical Trials, Embyonic Stem Cells, Geron, Regenerative Medicine, regulatory, spinal cord injury, stem cells | Tagged: Clinical Trials, embryonic stem cells, immune response, spinal cord injury | No Comments »
