A Waltham developer of stem cell technologies, Minerva Biotechnologies,
will begin selling what it calls "breakthrough" stem cells to
researchers and biotechnology companies thanks to two recent licensing
agreements with Japanese companies.
The deal opens up the possibility for researchers to grow human organs in animals that can then be transplanted.
“This whole field is moving quickly,” said Dr. Cynthia Bamdad,
CEO of Minerva Biotechnologies. “It’s a huge breakthrough that we
discovered this primitive growth factor, the natural growth factor, and
we’ve negotiated these two licenses that have allowed us to
commercialize… and distribute our technology to all the other stem cell
researchers.”
The Waltham-based biotech has been developing its stem cell technology since 1999.
Its aim is to discover a way to create stem cells from adult cells that
are in an even more embryonic-like stage than current stem cell
creation methods (called pluripotent stem cells) by using a primitive
growth function that brings the cell back to an even earlier stage of
development.
Bamdad said the
difference is in how efficient the stem cells are when used to create
other cells, such as those that make up organs. She said that using
existing pluripotent stem cells, only as much as 40 percent would be
able to be successfully made into heart cells, for example. Using what
Minerva is called "naïve" stem cells, the rate of success is 85-100
percent.
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