PARIS and KYOTO, Japan, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ — Cellectis
(Alternext: ALCLS), the French genome engineering specialist, and
iPS Academia Japan Inc. (Kyoto, Japan) announced today that they
have signed two separate non-exclusive agreements granting
Cellectis worldwide access to the induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS)
cells patent portfolio arising from the work of Professor Shinya
Yamanaka, MD, Ph.D., Center for iPS Cell Research and Application
(CiRA) at the University of Kyoto, Japan.
The agreements allow Cellectis and its affiliates to research,
develop and commercialize both research tools (covered by one
agreement) and human therapeutics or prophylactics (covered by the
second agreement) derived from iPS cells, in a certain range of
differentiated cell lineages. Cellectis is the first company
worldwide to be licensed by iPS Academia Japan under this iPS cell
patent portfolio for human therapeutics and prophylactics. In the
research tool field, this is the first agreement with French
company following agreements with US and German companies.
In 2006, Prof. Shinya Yamanaka and his colleagues first
described the process by which iPS cells – somatic cells that have
been reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells – can
differentiate into any other cell type. This breakthrough research
has provided the scientific community with the tools to generate an
endless source of stem cells. Importantly, iPS cells are not
associated with the ethical issues attendant to embryonic
cells.
Cellectis’ unique genome engineering expertise and technology
allows precise and reproducible targeted modifications in the
genome of living cells and organisms. The iPS cell technologies
will be used by Cellectis, and Ectycell, its subsidiary focused on
industrial applications of iPS cells, to engineer these cells and
derive consistent lines of robust products both as tools and as
therapeutics.
“These agreements provide Cellectis with a powerful
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