Takara Bio Europe launches Cellartis DEF-CS Xeno-Free Culture Medium for iPS cell culture

Takara Bio Europe AB, formerly Cellartis AB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., announced today that it is launching an advanced cell culture medium for iPS cell culture. This chemically-defined culture medium is pre-clinical grade, free from human- and animal-derived components, and designed for efficient expansion of undifferentiated human iPS cells.

Cellartis^® DEF-CS™ Xeno-Free Culture Medium is highly suitable for projects aiming for pre-clinical and clinical development, since it meets rigorous safety requirements for the sourcing of all components.

"We are delighted that our expertise in iPS cell handling and expansion has resulted in this innovative cell culture medium. It clearly demonstrates that our unique iPS cell culture platform has the potential to contribute to clinical breakthroughs in the future. We are particularly proud that this new culture medium is a product where our talented stem cell scientists have worked to fulfill the very stringent criteria pharmaceutical industry experts could demand from such a product," said Kristina Runeberg, Site Head and Senior Director, Business Development at Takara Bio Europe AB.

The Cellartis^® DEF-CS^™ Xeno-Free Culture Medium is produced in Takara Bio's state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities located in Kusatsu/Shiga, Japan. It will be made available worldwide to all translational, pre-clinical and clinical scientists through Takara Clontech group subsidiaries and distributors as well as on www.clontech.com.

Takara Bio provides CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) business as an R&D partner for biopharmaceuticals. Takara Bio's CDMO services include the development of production processes and quality control and testing methods, trial production, bioassays, and production services based on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for vectors for gene therapy and for cells used in regenerative medicine and cell therapy. With the Cellartis^® DEF-CS™ Xeno-Free Culture Medium, Takara Bio continues to expand its CDMO business and support R&D partners who are executing iPS cell research projects in the regenerative medicine field.