ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich
Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL) today announced that Sigma Life Science,
its innovative biological products and services research business,
has furthered its commitment to stem cell research, drug discovery
and ADME/Toxicology by acquiring a worldwide license to use
Kyoto University's induced pluripotent
stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio. Sigma Life Science, leveraging
its zinc finger protein platform and stem cell technology
portfolio, is now poised to develop a new set of
differentiated tools for both the drug discovery and preclinical
research communities. These tools will include novel iPS-cells,
iPS-cell derived primary cells, novel assays, custom cell line
development and ADME/Toxicology services. Under the terms of
the agreement, iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) will receive a license
fee from Sigma-Aldrich.
iPS cell technology can create pluripotent stem cells from the
normal adult cells of a patient. Pluripotent stem cells are capable
of differentiating into many specialized primary cell types needed
for research, such as cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, neurons, and
muscle cells. With access to differentiated cells from patients
with the condition of interest, or healthy human cells engineered
to contain disease-specific genetics, researchers may obtain
greater predictive accuracy than is possible with the in
vitro models used currently in pharmaceutical research and
preclinical studies.
"The pace of progress in iPS cell research has been breathtaking
thanks to many scientists' strenuous efforts. With the
non-exclusive license agreement that has been formed by
Sigma-Aldrich, a global corporation in the life science field, and
iPS Academia Japan, I expect that this move will further accelerate
research and development using iPS cell technologies not only in
the United States but also in the
rest of the world," said Professor Shinya
Yamanaka, Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and
Application (CiRA) at Kyoto
University.
"Our license with Kyoto University
grants us the freedom to operate under Kyoto
University's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent
portfolio in the increasingly important field of stem-cell based
research and development. Researchers currently use primary cells
derived from techniques that lack consistency and the ability to
genetically engineer cells. Using the Kyoto iPS cell technology and
our zinc finger protein technologies, we hope to generate stable,
defined sets of cells and subsequently derived tissues whose
predictive power will allow us to develop a new paradigm in assay
development," says David Smoller,
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Sigma-Aldrich. "Thus, our
Sigma-Aldrich scientists may be able to guide cells through the
critical series of maturation steps — in ways no one has done
previously — and also add reporter genes into these cells so that
researchers can directly visualize the true biology of cellular
processes."
Sigma Life Science's new iPS cell-based technologies, along with
its existing stem cell product portfolio of serum-free cell culture
products, cell culture media, 3D matrices, growth factors, and
antibodies, will provide uniquely comprehensive support for iPS
cell-related research.
Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains
forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology
such as "has furthered," "is poised to," "can create," "will,"
"hope," "may be able," "expect," "predictive" or similar
expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding
potential future revenues from products derived there from. You
should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such
forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management
regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be
no guarantee that iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines,
novel assays, or related custom services will assist the Company to
achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In
particular, management's expectations regarding products associated
iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines, novel assays, or
related custom services could be affected by, among other things,
unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation
generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or
other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in
general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures;
the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values
attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in
its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors
referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the
US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these
risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially
from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
Sigma-Aldrich is providing the
information in this press release as of this date and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
About Sigma Life Science: Sigma Life Science is a
Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the Company's leadership in
innovative biological products and services for the global life
science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products
and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation.
Product areas include biomolecules, genomics and functional
genomics, cells and cell-based assays, transgenics, protein assays,
stem cell research, epigenetics and custom
services/oligonucleotides. Sigma Life Science also provides an
extensive range critical bioessentials like biochemicals,
antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools,
hematology and histology, nucleotides, amino acids and their
derivatives, and cell culture media.
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a
leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical,
organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific
research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology,
pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key
components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology
manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich
customers include more than one million scientists and
technologists in life science companies, university and government
institutions, hospitals and industry. The Company operates in 40
countries and has nearly 9,000 employees whose objective is to
provide excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to accelerating customer
success through innovation and leadership in Life Science and High
Technology. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please
visit its award winning web site at www.sigma-aldrich.com.
Sigma-Aldrich and Sigma are
trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co, LLC registered in the US and other
countries.
SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation