AsianScientist (Jun. 8, 2011) – Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) announced today an agreement with iPS Academia Japan, Inc. to distribute CDI’s iCell® Cardiomyocytes product in Japan.
iCell® Cardiomyocytes is the first commercially available product based on the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology pioneered by Dr. James Thomson and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka.
In 2007, Yamanaka and Thomson concurrently discovered how to reprogram human adult cells into iPS cells, which have essentially the same characteristics as human embryonic stem cells.
Yamanaka currently serves on the scientific advisory board of iPS Academia Japan, Inc., the company originally established to manage his patents and technology.
Thomson is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of CDI, which develops cellular tools based on iPS cell technology. CDI was the first non-Japanese company to have received a license to Yamanaka’s iPS cell patent portfolio by iPS Academia Japan in May 2010.
According to Osamu Yoshida, MD, PhD, President and CEO of iPS Academia Japan:
“Dr. Yamanaka’s goal is to see the application of iPSC technology utilized broadly to benefit the health and well-being of people. Toward this end, iPS Academia Japan is pleased to partner with Cellular Dynamics, the leader in iPSC-derived tissue manufacturing, thereby making the benefits of this technology widely available to researchers in Japan through our distribution and support of CDI’s iCell products.”
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Source: Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
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