Stem Cell Sciences Wins EU Funding To Use Stem Cells For Drug Discovery

Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 28 Sep 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Stem Cell Sciences plc (SCS; AIM:STEM, ASX: STC) announces that it is to lead an EU funded, multinational novel drug screening collaboration using stem cells. The project, named "NEUROscreen", will use Stem Cell Sciences' proprietary neural stem (NS) cell technology and has received a contribution from the EU's 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (FP6). The EU's contribution to the NEUROscreen project is worth €2.4 million over three years, of which approximately €0.42 million will flow directly to SCS over the three year period.

NEUROscreen brings together a unique partnership of leading European academic research institutes and biotech companies from several nations, including the UK, Germany and Italy. The Programme involves designing unique bioassays based on SCS' neural stem cell technology, which will then be used to discover new candidate medicines for the treatment of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, stroke and epilepsy. Neural stem cells can differentiate into neurons and glia, therefore offer potential in treating CNS disorders.

SCS' NS cells grow stably and uniformly, consistently producing neurons after many months in culture. The cells adhere to tissue culture vessels and can be expanded to large volumes using state-of-the-art laboratory robots. These are features that provide a direct advantage to users of neural cells for drug screening. SCS has validated a process for NS cell expansion using robotics from its commercial partner, The Automation Partnership. This process guarantees a consistent production of high quality cells delivered in quantities to suit most drug screening campaigns. SCS' component of the project will be performed at its automated stem cell production facility in Cambridge (UK) by the SC Services team of assay design specialists.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to validate our human NS cell and NS cell-derived cell types for drug discovery, all within a single, well defined programme of work," said Dr. Lilian Hook, SCS' European Research Programme Manager. "We expect that NEUROscreen will significantly add to the value of our NS cell platform and broaden its utility in neural drug discovery and development."

Commenting on the award of the funding, Peter Mountford, Chief Executive of SCS, said: "We are very pleased that the EU has decided to fund SCS as coordinator for NEUROscreen. The €420,000 that SCS will receive as leader of this project demonstrates that our technology and capabilities are distinctive in the industry. We look forward to increasing the range of drug discovery applications and adding to our list of four large industry licensees of the technology. NEUROscreen also provides SCS with the exciting prospect of discovering proprietary drug leads."

SCS' Neural Stem Cell

SCS' Neural Stem (NS) cell is the first tissue-specific cell identified that can grow stably in the laboratory as a pure population of stem cells and without ongoing differentiation. The new cells can be grown indefinitely in monolayer, serum-free conditions in fully defined culture media, developed by Stem Cell Sciences. It is a cell type that shows maintenance of stable biological potency even after prolonged periods in culture. NS cells can differentiate to neurons and glia, and offer a limitless source of cells for cell therapy in conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

The ability of NS cells to retain their capacity for subsequent differentiation after prolonged growth in culture means they are particularly useful in generating mature human brain cell types at a large scale. In addition, as these cells can be derived from diseased donors and subsequently used to differentiate into brain cells, in vitro models of the disease can be created providing the basis for drug screening. Therefore, NS cell lines offer potential in many areas of pharmaceutical research in neurological disease and dysfunction, and it is anticipated that they will also be of enormous benefit to the emerging regenerative medicine industry. These cells provide the foundation of Stem Cell Sciences' cell therapy programmes.

About Stem Cell Sciences

Stem Cell Sciences plc (SCS, AIM: STEM, ASX: STC) is a global biotechnology company providing the biological infrastructure of cells and cell culture media to the burgeoning stem cell research market.

Stem Cell Sciences' core objective is to develop safe and effective cell-based therapies for currently incurable diseases. SCS retains all rights to its technology for therapeutic use and is targeting cell-based therapies for neurodegenerative disease and injury.

Revenues from Stem Cell Sciences' research business are delivered via an integrated network of business teams and regional offices in Edinburgh and Cambridge (UK), Kobe (Japan), Melbourne (Australia) and San Francisco (USA). This global reach provides the Company with the direct access to markets through experienced personnel and local business networks needed to drive SCS business growth in each region.

The key challenge for the successful application of stem cells in both research and clinical applications is the reproducible supply of pure, fully characterized stem cells and stem cell-derived specialised cells such as nerves and muscle. This represents a significant technological challenge that will require access to multiple technologies and a globally integrated stem cell initiative.

To access cutting edge technologies on a rapid and on-going basis, Stem Cell Sciences has built an exceptional network of highly interactive collaborations with academic centres of excellence in the stem cell field. These collaborations have been the source of our founding technologies and continue to provide an expanding pipeline of products and intellectual property that are central to the Company's strategy and success.

To facilitate research and technology transfer with its major collaborating academic institutions, Stem Cell Sciences' business and scientific teams are usually co-located on site or adjacent to the centre of excellence in independent company facilities. The Company's key collaborating institutes include the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research (University of Cambridge), the Institute of Stem Cell Research (University of Edinburgh), RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology (Kobe) and the Australian Stem Cell Centre (Melbourne).

Academic and commercial use of stem cells in basic research and drug discovery provides the Company with immediate and growing revenue streams and offsets the cost of technology development for full scale cell production of SCS cell-based therapeutics.

http://www.stemcellsciences.com