Japan-based Astellas Pharma and Osaka University’s Graduate School of Medicine/Faculty of Medicine have embarked on a research collaboration to develop pluripotent stem cell-derived cartilage organoid cell therapy for the treatment of intervertebral disc degenerative disease.
The Japanese pharma major is represented in the partnership by its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM) and Universal Cells.
Universal Cells has the rights to Universal Donor Cell (UDC) technology.
UDC enables the creation of cell therapy products from pluripotent stem cells with reduced risk of immune rejection through genetic modification of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) using gene editing technology.
Astellas Pharma chief scientific officer Yoshitsugu Shitaka said: “Astellas is committed to achieving our VISION of being “on the forefront of healthcare change, turning innovative science into VALUE for patients.
“We hope to provide our cutting-edge UDC technology to academia and startups globally and deliver next-generation cell therapies to patients. This partnership is an important step in the open innovation using UDC technology.”
The agreement combines the cartilage tissue creation protocol established by Professor Noriyuki Tsumaki from the department of tissue biochemistry and molecular biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Universal Cells’ UDC technology, and AIRM’s research and development (R&D) expertise in cell therapy.
Tsumaki said: “We believe that our cartilage-like tissue has the potential to regenerate intervertebral discs.
“We hope that combining our research with Astellas’ UDC technology and R&D cell therapy system will accelerate and realise the development of regenerative therapies to treat intervertebral disc degenerative disease.”
In 2015, Astellas Pharma established a joint research chair with Osaka University for R&D on next-generation cell therapy.
In May this year, the Japanese drugmaker through its fully owned subsidiary Xyphos Biosciences, partnered with Poseida Therapeutics to develop allogeneic cell therapies in oncology.
