Expansion of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Pipeline
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] SCM Life Sciences announced on the 1st that it has signed a technology licensing agreement for a diabetes treatment with the U.S. bio-venture Alrial Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals. The treatment is derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) pancreatic beta cells. By leveraging an open innovation strategy, the company will expand its pipeline in the field of induced pluripotent stem cells.
The signing fee for this contract is $750,000 (approximately 850 million KRW). Subsequently, depending on milestones, the total amount may increase up to $3 million (approximately 3.4 billion KRW).
SCM Life Sciences will hold exclusive domestic rights for the development, approval, production, and sales of Alrial’s diabetes treatment. Specifically, the method involves applying messenger RNA (mRNA) core technology to establish induced pluripotent stem cells, then using tissue-specific cell differentiation technology to create iPSC-derived pancreatic beta cells, which will be developed as treatments for type 1 and type 3 diabetes. The two companies signed a joint research and development agreement for this pipeline in early 2019, and this contract marks the fruition of their efforts after two years.
Since 2009, Alrial has been applying mRNA core technology to induced pluripotent stem cells to produce high-quality tissue-specific cells. They also possess a cGMP facility capable of producing treatments by collecting skin cells through a simple procedure at their own facility, creating iPSCs, and differentiating them into pancreatic beta cells. Through this, they are conducting an iPSC line establishment business and manage donor screening, tissue biopsy monitoring, and documentation according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards.
An SCM Life Sciences official emphasized, “This can significantly reduce the inconvenience for diabetes patients who have to inject insulin at least once daily, as well as the time and financial opportunity costs caused by the expensive treatments.”
With this contract, SCM Life Sciences can expand its pipeline to include iPSC-based therapies. Until now, SCM Life Sciences has focused its research and development primarily on adult stem cells.
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