ES Cell licenses US diabetes technology

Stem cell-based regenerative medicine company ES Cell International (ESI) has licensed cutting-edge US technology to speed its path to the commercialisation of a diabetes cell replacement therapy.

The technology deals with a method of transforming embryonic stem cells into a renewable source of insulin-producing cells. It was developed by Stanford University where researchers successfully turned embryonic cells into insulin-producing cells in mouse models.

ESI hopes to produce the same effects in humans and is working toward the first clinical trials for such a therapy in 2005, according to CEO Robert Klupacs.

The licence is a co-exclusive arrangement which allows the university to place the technology in the hands of only one other player. ESI is the first licensee and is free to commercialise any results of its work, according to the company.

The agreement complements ESI's acquisition of diabetes technology from US listed company Curis two months ago. As part of that deal, a team of Curis researchers has been seconded to ESI, and will work using the newly-licensed technology in Curis' facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their activities will be directed by ESI's chief scientific officer, and ESI will own the outcomes of their work.

ESI, which has been searching for a technology covering the transformation of stem cells into insulin producing cells, "is confident that the Stanford cell differentiation technology is one of the most advanced in the world today", Klupacs said.

"This latest agreement builds on our expertise, and will broaden the appeal of ESI as a regenerative medicine company with a leading capability in diabetes cell replacement therapy,"

ESI, which developed some of the stem cell lines certified for research use by the US National Institutes of Health, is building a patent portfolio covering the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells principally relating to diabetes but also taking in other degenerative diseases.

The Stanford technology was developed by Dr Seung Kim and was detailed in the December edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.