Cephalon Inc is to pay $130 million upfront for access to stem-cell technology developed by Mesoblast Ltd of Australia as part of an alliance to develop and commercialise adult mesenchymal precursor stem cell therapeutics for disease.
AstraZeneca Plc has signed a research agreement with the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts to use stem cells to generate new research tools for investigating the causes of Type 2 diabetes.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge and Edinburgh University have reported identifying several genes which appear to be active in the natural repair of myelin, the protective sheath around nerve cells which is damaged in multiple sclerosis.
Scientists at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts have reported being able to promote optic nerve regeneration in an animal by activating two molecular pathways synergistically. Separately, the pathways have a less pronounced effect.
ReNeuron Group Plc has treated the first patient in a Phase 1 trial of a new stem-cell therapy that has been developed to treat patients left disabled by an ischaemic stroke. The trial is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Researchers from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University’s Baptist Medical Center have seeded human liver cells in a laboratory and reportedly maintained them in a specialised bioreactor for up to one week.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc is to pay €10 million to the Italian medical charity, Fondazione Telethon, for access to a new gene therapy that can be carried out on stem cells taken from a patient’s own bone marrow. GSK will investigate the therapy for rare diseases.
Scientists at the Medical Research Council in the UK have identified a gene that they say plays a key role in the development of the central nervous system. The gene, Sox9, regulates the transformation of neuroepithelial cells into stem cells.
A new company has been set up in the Benelux to discover and develop small molecule drugs for treating bone and joint diseases. It combines assets from TiGenix NV of Belgium and Therosteon BV of the Netherlands.
US stem cell research involving human embryos received a setback after a US judge ruled that a 2009 Presidential order expanding funding for this research is illegal.