Plasticell Partners in Stem-Cell Product
Plasticell, a Stevenage, UK-based developer of stem-cell technologies and cell therapies, has partnered with Anthony Nolan, a research organization for blood cancers, to progress clinical development of Plasticell’s ex vivo expanded cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem-cell product.
Plasticell has developed a small molecule-driven, GMP-compliant method of expanding hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood, bone marrow, and peripheral blood. The therapy has been part-funded by multiple program grants from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and developed in collaboration with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Blood and Transplant body, the University of Oxford, and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, a center of excellence funded by Innovate UK to support cell therapy organizations.
The project is part of Plasticell’s hematopoietic cell-therapy portfolio, which includes the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells and the manufacture of various blood cell types from pluripotent cell sources. In the past year, Plasticell has announced two separate academic collaborations in the hematology space with the University of Edinburgh and Kings College London as well as a larger commercial collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline.
Source: Plasticell