Stemedica Awarded US Patent for Transgenic Therapeutic Stem Cells
Stemedica a leading manufacturer of adult, allogeneic stem cells and stem cell factors, received United States Patent No. 9080184 entitled “Transgenic Therapeutic Stem Cells and Methods for Their Use and Manufacture.” The patent issued on July 14, 2015.
Invented by Drs. Alex Kharazi, (Stemedica’s Chief Technology Officer), MG Muralidhar (Research Scientist), and Grigory Vertelov (Research Scientist), this patent covers human mesenchymal stem cells genetically modified to produce an extra amount of human granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (hG-CSF). hG-CSF is known to have multiple physiological effects such as neuroprotection; induction of neurogenesis (the process by which neurons are generated from the neural stem cells and progenitor cells); stimulation of production of anti-inflammatory compounds; stem cell mobilization; and inhibition of apoptosis (programmed cell death). All of these therapeutic effects hold great promise for medical conditions such as inflammatory diseases, ischemic stroke and heart attack. Stemedica’s preclinical in vivo studies confirmed these therapeutic effects in an animal model.
“Using hG-CSF-transduced MSC will allow Stemedica and other users the opportunity to enhance the potency of our product via the increased secretion of this cytokine, which may improve clinical trial results,” said Alex Kharazi, MD, PhD, Chief Technology Officer of Stemedica. “This newly-patented technology now allows Stemedica to use mesenchymal stem cells as a delivery vehicle for hG-CSF directly to the site of injury. This treatment approach should reduce the side effects of hG-CSF following its systemic administration.”