Stemgent & iPS Academia Japan Enter License Agreement

Stemgent, Inc. and iPS Academia Japan, Inc. have announced a worldwide non-exclusive licensing agreement for AJ’s induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) patent portfolio.

The portfolio arises from work by Professor Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at the University of Kyoto, Japan.

With the rights granted through this agreement, Stemgent can continue to lead the field in developing the most innovative iPS technologies and services for the academic community and also be able to extend these rights, through a sub-license agreement, to commercial entities for drug screening applications.

This will enable biotech and pharmaceutical researchers to take full advantage of the premier non-integrating reprogramming technique, Stemgent mRNA Reprogramming System.

The Stemgent mRNA Technology is currently the fastest, safest and most efficient approach to reprogramming somatic cells.

With this framework, both parties aim to simplify access to iPS cell technology and therefore accelerate its use in both basic and commercial research applications. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

“Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from normal and diseased adult cells have the capacity to differentiate into many specialized cell types and hence have the potential to provide patient-specific and comparative data that allows for greater predictive accuracy in disease models than exists today. Our agreement with AJ gives pharma and biotech companies the necessary intellectual property and knowledge to use Stemgent’s clinically-relevant, mRNA Reprogramming Technology in their drug discovery research,” says Ian Ratcliffe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stemgent.

“iPS Academia Japan is pleased to grant the non-exclusive license and build a relationship with Stemgent. Because iPSCs are generated without the involvement or destruction of human embryos, iPSCs are gaining greater acceptance for uses in drug discovery and disease research, as well as other areas of biotechnology. Since Stemgent has close relationship with research community both for basic science and commercial science, we believe that Stemgent’s business will contribute to boost the acceptance of iPSC technology,” said Shosaku Murayama, president and Chief Executive Officer of AJ.

Murayama continued, “We hope for the further advancement of the iPSC technology and its practical use in the coming years and we continue to support expanding the iPSC technology by licensing our patent portfolio.”