Regenerative Medicine

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first haematopoietic progenitor cell-cord cell therapy. Called Hemacord, the product is manufactured by the New York Blood Center Inc of New York.

TiGenix NV said that group revenues for the first nine months of 2011 were €1.1 million of which the majority was generated by the company’s cell-based therapy to treat knee injuries, ChondroCelect. Cash at 30 September 2011 was €20.5 million.

In a decision that will have far-reaching consequences for regenerative medicine, the European Court of Justice has ruled that inventions requiring the destruction of human embryos, or their prior use as base material, cannot be patented under European law if the purpose is purely for scientific research.

NeoStem Inc of New York, which has a business in adult stem cell collection and storage, has completed an all-share acquisition of Amorcyte Inc of New Jersey in a bid to develop a portfolio of therapies based on stem-cell technology.

The European Court of Justice is scheduled to issue a judgment on 18 October 2011 in a case concerning the patentability of technology based on the use of human embryonic stem cells. The case involves a German researcher, Oliver Brüstle.

A team of US scientists has used cloning technology to create embryos from the skin cells of diabetic patients, and then derived stem cells from these embryos. This is thought to be the first such procedure using patient-specific cells.

Mesoblast Ltd of Australia has received clearance to start a Phase 2 trial of a new allogeneic stem-cell therapy in patients suffering acute heart attacks. The UK’s King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the study sites.

F-Star GmbH of Vienna will discover engineered antibodies for three inflammatory targets supplied by Merck Serono SA of Geneva in a contract that is potentially worth €492 million plus tiered royalties on product sales.

Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have reported the reprogramming of adult mouse skin cells directly into a type of motor neuron by a method which they say is more efficient than the process for creating induced pluripotent stem cells.

The European Commission has awarded €5.3 million over four years to a consortium led by Ark Therapeutics Group Plc to investigate the possible use of gene and cell therapy, along with stents, in the treatment of coronary heart disease.