“CDI’s mission is to provide human cell-based research and drug discovery tools that enhance scientists’ ability to better understand human biology, increase efficiency of the discovery process and ultimately improve human healthcare,” Bob Palay, CEO of Cellular Dynamics International, said in a press release. “The IP space surrounding stem cell technology is complex. With the licensing of the GE-Geron intellectual property portfolio, CDI now has more than 700 licensed or owned patents and patent applications. We have built our IP portfolio intending to ensure broad freedom to operate and to offer customers products that they can use with confidence and the knowledge that their subsequent discoveries are protected by this IP portfolio.”  

 

The agreement is the latest of several ventures in the stem cell space for both companies. GE Healthcare launched its Cytiva cardiomyocytes in 2010, stem cell-based assays that aid in determining the toxicity of drug candidates in the earlier stages of drug discovery. More recently, GE Healthcare has announced the expansion of its license with Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geron, a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class cancer therapeutics. The expansion allows GE Healthcare to obtain exclusive global rights to Geron’s intellectual property and know-how for developing and selling cellular assays derived from iPS cells.

 

For its part, Cellular Dynamics announced in late October that the National Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH-CRM) had awarded it a contract to provide iPS cell lines and terminally differentiated tissue cells from normal or specified patient populations. The three-year agreement could be worth up to $7 million, and is the third contract Cellular Dynamics has been awarded from NIH-CRM, with the first two originating in 2011.