Stem Cell Sciences to commercialise breakthrough in neural stem cell technology

Stem Cell Sciences has announced that it has an exclusive license to a new patented technology to derive and grow neural stem cells. This technology has been licensed from the University of Edinburgh.

This announcement follows the publication earlier this week in the Public Library of Science Biology 2005 (Aug 16) of a unique technique for growing brain cells from neural stem cells, published by SCS’s collaborating academic researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Milan. The discovery has been assisted by financing through the EuroStemCell Framework VI program, a world-leading consortium of European research institutes and companies.

Dr Peter Mountford, CEO of SCS said: “Being able to grow pure brain cells is an exciting prospect for the Company. SCS sees new business opportunities in both cell-based drug discovery and cell-based therapies for neurological disorders.”

Expanding on Dr. Mountford’s comments, Dr Tim Allsopp, Chief Science Officer of SCS added: “The remarkable stability and purity of the cells is something unique in the field of tissue stem cells and a great step forward. We have already had a number of approaches in both the UK and Australia from pharmaceutical companies interested in using these cells to test and develop new drugs, and are looking forward to working with them to further develop and license the technology.”

Cell based discovery is becoming increasingly mainstream in the pharmaceutical industry as it provides better information about new drug candidates than other laboratory based systems. Stem cells offer unique advantages in this type of screening and will be increasingly used as improved cell culture media and automation brings higher reproducibility and lower costs.

The EuroStemCell project financed by the European Union and linking European academic researchers with industry participants has been designed to accelerate the ‘research to commercialisation’ pathway. This new discovery represents some of the first fruits of this high calibre collaboration.

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