SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Allele”), a leader in the development of specialized cells for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical drug discovery, today announced plans to form a commercial business for the banking of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by private individuals.
Allele is pleased to have Drs. Mahendra Rao and Joseph Paulauskis as the first members of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for iPSC banking and cGMP production. Dr. Rao is a world-renowned scientist in the fields of stem cells and medicine, having served as the VP of Regenerative Medicine at Invitrogen, founding Director of the NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine, Chair of the Biological Response Modifiers Committee (BRMAC, now CTAGT) of the FDA, and he is currently Chief Strategy Officer at Q Therapeutics. Dr. Paulauskis is the Chief Operating Officer of Paradigm Dx as well as the Vice-President of Research and Biobanking for the International Genomics Consortium, and has previously held senior positions in pharmacogenomics at Pfizer. Allele plans to make additional appointments to the SAB as individuals with world-class experience and expertise are identified.
Human iPSCs are cells that can be grown to virtually infinite numbers and can become any cell in the human body, features which hold great promise for therapies that can alleviate or cure human disease. Allele’s business model recognizes that an individual can have their own cells ready for future therapeutic use via the generation and storage of iPSCs from that individual’s skin cells. While this is similar to what is done with newborn cord blood, iPSCs can be generated from humans of any age. The banking of human iPSCs for potential future therapeutic use is a relatively new industry with unprecedented potential, and Allele is benefitting from expert opinions internally and from current and future SAB members, ensuring a solid scientific and ethical foundation for this business.
In addition to serving its customers, Allele’s iPSC bank will be an unparalleled resource for biomedical research. Proper consent and privacy guardianship will allow thousands of iPSC lines with accompanying sequence database and health information to be made available from the bank to scientists and clinicians. Currently, iPSC banks are funded by government agencies at multi-million dollar costs per project; Allele’s model does not rely on tax dollars and provides potentially a larger bank of iPSCs of higher quality to aid research and treatment efforts. To this end, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins recently announced the implementation of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), the goal of which is for health care professionals to have the resources to take into account individual differences in genes, environments, and lifestyles that contribute to disease when providing treatments in the new era.
“We are happy to have the guidance from world leading experts in stem cells, biobanking, and cell therapy fields such as Drs. Rao and Paulauskis”, said Jiwu Wang Ph.D., President and CEO of Allele. “We believe that setting the bar high will be ultimately beneficial to future customers, fellow researchers, industry partners, and regulatory agencies alike. We are happy to see the recent release by the International Society for Stem Cell Research of a draft of ‘Guidelines for the Clinical Translation of Stem Cells’, whose principals we plan to follow closely. We also intend to obtain certification by the cord blood banking association AABB, if possible, and abide by other regulatory rules as they become public, such as the "Stem Cell Clinical Research Management (tentative)" by the Health Commission of China, if and when we move to operate under that jurisdiction”.
Towards the establishment of this business effort, Allele has recently purchased an 18,000 square-foot facility, located near its headquarters in San Diego, California. This new facility will be the center of cGMP-production of human iPSCs using Allele’s proprietary synthetic mRNA platform, a technology that generates cells with neither the random integration of foreign DNA nor the use of viruses or virus-based elements, drawbacks common to other technologies for making hiPSCs; thus, the “footprint-free” cells generated by Allele’s synthetic mRNA platform are optimally suited for therapeutic use, and Allele’s technology has been licensed for clinical trials by companies such as Ocata Therapeutics (formerly ACT). This effort received strong support from Yuan Capital and Yifang Ventures.
About Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a private, San Diego-based company that explores the mechanisms of biological processes to develop technologies and products for biomedical researchers. Allele utilizes proprietary non-integrating cellular reprogramming methods to generate human and non-human primate iPS cells, GMP-grade human iPS cells and their derivatives, and differentiated cell types. With additional expertise in genome modification and cell-based sensors/reporters, Allele provides advanced cell-based assays for drug discovery. Allele also has developed a wide variety of reagents including superior fluorescent proteins and camelid antibodies. The company has also been a leader in the RNAi field with its patents in Pol III promoter-driven siRNA, shRNA, and miRNA.
