StemCells, Inc. Grants License to Stem Cell Therapeutics

StemCells, Inc. has announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp.

Under the agreement, Stem Cell Therapeutics will pay StemCells up-front and license maintenance fees, as well as milestone and royalty payments.

The agreement also provides StemCells with access to SCT's intellectual property portfolio for use in drug discovery, screening and testing, and therapeutic use of cellular compositions.

StemCells will pay SCT a commercially reasonable royalty to be negotiated in good faith on products developed under the license.

"We are delighted to have Stem Cell Therapeutics as our newest licensee in the neural stem cell field," said Martin McGlynn, President and CEO of StemCells.

"We regard them as a pioneer in the use of various molecules to induce a patient's own stem cells to proliferate in the brain, and wish them great success with their programs, some of which are already clinical stage."

"Our own primary approach to treating disorders of the CNS is through the direct transplantation into the brain of natural human neural stem cells; ReNeuron, a UK biotech company that is another of our licensees in the neural stem cell field, has a similar approach to ours, but in their case they use conditionally immortalized cells."

"Patients can only benefit from collaborations of this sort in the private sector, as they provide multiple shots on goal, where the goal is to bring stem cell based treatments to the clinic to treat a whole range of intractable conditions of the CNS."

"This is a mutually advantageous deal that we believe advances the adult neural stem cell field as a whole," said Joseph Tucker, Ph.D., President and CEO of Stem Cell Therapeutics.

"The rights we have licensed from StemCells further solidify and strengthen our intellectual property position, and the agreement allows StemCells to use our intellectual property through approaches we are not currently pursuing in our own programs."

"Stem Cell Therapeutics is focused on a drug-based approach to treating disease, while StemCells is developing cell-based therapeutic approaches using adult stem cells."

"I believe that this agreement should help both companies achieve their ultimate goals of bringing effective stem cell therapies to the patients who need them."