StemCell Therapy

Robert Shaw, left, commercial director of EMD Millipores Stem Cell Initiative, and Michael May, CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto.

EMD Millipore, the Billerica-based life science division of Merck KGaA, said today that it is collaborating with the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto to develop optimized conditions to cultivate stem cells in a bioreactor.

The two parties will focus on developing a proprietary monitoring and control methodology for robust growth of adherent human pluripotent stem cells in EMD Millipores Mobius CellReady stirred tank bioreactor. The aim is to produce a commercial kit with reagents and associated methodologies for bioreactor culture of stem cells on microcarriers. No value was given for the collaboration.

As the demand for stem cells used in drug discovery and clinical applications grows, effectively translating the promise of stem cells into therapeutic reality will require large-scale, industrialized production under tightly controlled conditions, Robert Shaw, commercial director of EMD Millipores Stem Cell Initiative, said in a statement. He added that current production uses stacks of 2D tissue culture vessels, an expensive and labor-intensive process. The joint project is tackling those challenges, with the goal of large-scale cultivation of stem cells. Shaw said that may accelerate the progress of therapies into the clinic.

EMD Millipore is the first project partner of the regenerative medicine center, said Michael May, CEO of the center, which is using Millipores bioreactor in its product development facility at the University of Torontos Banting Institute. The work began on Feb. 27, 2012.

EMD Millipore has about 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2010 revenues of $2.2 billion. The company is known as Merck Millipore outside of the United States and Canada.

The regenerative medicine center is a Canadian non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canadas Networks of Centres of Excellence program and six institutional partners. It supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based products. The center launched in Torontos Discovery District on June 14, 2011.

Just two weeks ago Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE: CRL) of Wilmington signed an exclusive license for EMD Millipores TrueSpike technology under which the two will collaborate to integrate TrueSpike into Charles Rivers viral clearance services that aim to improve drug product safety.

Read more:
Millipore and Toronto non-profit cultivate stem cells in bioreactor

This entry was posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Regenerative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |