BioTime, Inc. Announces The Formation Of Embryome Sciences, Inc. For The Development And Commercialization Of Stem Cell Technology
Emeryville, CA - BioTime, Inc. today announced that it has organized a new subsidiary, Embryome Sciences, Inc. The mission of the new company is to participate in the emerging field of regenerative medicine known as "embryomics".
"Human embryonic stem cells are capable of becoming all of the thousands of different cell types in the body," said Michael West, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer. "And since embryonic stem cells can now be derived in a noncontroversial manner, they are increasingly likely to be utilized in a wide array of future therapies to restore the function of organs damaged by degenerative diseases such as heart failure, stroke, and diabetes. The future challenge for regenerative medicine is to navigate the complexity of human development and manufacture purified populations of desired cell types. EmbryomicsTM represents the merger of new technologies in the field of genomics with the biology of embryonic stem cells to provide scientists with a detailed "roadmap" of the human developmental tree, the factors to push the cells into desired lineages, and tools to purify the desired cell types.
BioTime believes that the development of products in the embryomics sector may allow Embryome Sciences to commercialize products more quickly, using less capital, than developing therapeutic products from stem cells. Embryome Sciences' plan is to market its products and services to companies and academic researchers in this growing industry to provide them with the tools they need to attain their goals.
The new BioTime subsidiary plans to launch three kinds of research products in the next two years. The first product is a commercial database that will provide the first detailed map of the embryome, thereby aiding researchers in navigating the complexities of human development and in identifying the many hundreds of cell types coming from embryonic stem cells. This map of the human and mouse embryome will take the form of a relational database that would permit researchers to chart the cell lineages of human development, the genes expressed in those cell types, and antigens present on the cell surface of those cells that can be used in purification. Embryome Sciences plans to launch this web-based database in January 2008. The new website may also be used to market stem cell research products developed by Embryome Sciences and by other companies.
Second, in order to manufacture specific cell types from embryonic stem cells, researchers need to use factors that induce those cells to become a desired cell type. Embryome Sciences plans to develop growth and differentiation factors that can do this, and hopes to launch the first of these products beginning in 2008.
The third category of near-term embryomics products that Embryome Sciences will pursue, to be launched beginning in 2009, is a line of purification tools useful to researchers in quality control of products for regenerative medicine.
SOURCE: BioTime, Inc.