Shire Plc has renamed one of its business units in order to demonstrate its commitment to building a presence in regenerative medicine. The unit, Advanced BioHealing Inc, will henceforth be known as Shire Regenerative Medicine Inc and will be based in San Diego.
From time to time, venture capital firms have been able to assemble disparate pharmaceutical assets and find the right talent to develop them into a valuable property. However, it looks as if biotechs have started to do something similar by using their widespread contacts and alliances to investigate the causes of disease.
Researchers from the US have tested bone grafts grown from purified adipose-derived stem cells and discovered that the cells regenerated bone tissue better than current methods.The findings were published in the June, 2012 issue of Stem Cells, Translational Medicine.
Tissue Regenix Plc of the UK said that a preclinical study of its tissue regeneration technology showed a better performance than a competitor bovine-derived matrix. The study results were published in the open-access journal, PLoS.
The Karolinska University Hospital and GE Healthcare Life Sciences have started a joint research collaboration to address some of the issues associated with the manufacture and development of new cell therapies. Financial terms weren’t given.
Research published online in the journal Cell Stem Cell suggests that inhibiting a protein that regulates cell signalling could mitigate the process of ageing in haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), key support mechanisms for blood cells and for the immune system.
Shire Plc has reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of privately-held Pervasis Therapeutics Inc of Cambridge, Massachusetts which has a clinical-stage, cell-based therapy for enhancing blood vessel repair.
Researchers from the US and Canada have reported generating a new type of cell line, endodermal progenitor cells, which they say could be used as a new tool for modeling human disease including diabetes and liver disease.
A team of experts in advanced therapies has concluded that developers of cell, gene and tissue-engineered therapies may need more support from the regulatory authorities in translating their discoveries into products for possible commercial use.
Promethera Biosciences SA, which is developing a therapy for liver disease using allogeneic stem cells derived from healthy adult human livers, has raised €23.6 million in a series B financing round that included four corporate investors.