AgeX Teams with UC Irvine on Stem Cell Research for Neurological Disorders

AgeX Therapeutics said it has entered into a research collaboration with the University of California, Irvine to use its PureStem cell derivation and manufacturing technology to derive neural stem cells, with the goal of developing cellular therapies to treat neurological disorders.

The collaboration’s initial R&D work, expected to take approximately one year, will be conducted in the UC Irvine laboratory of Leslie Thompson, professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Neurobiology & Behavior, and a leading researcher in the field of Huntington’s disease and other neurological disorders, under a sponsored research agreement. The initial focus will be on Huntington’s disease, while other potential targets may include Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and stroke.

The primary goal of the research will be to develop a robust method of deriving neural stem cells from pluripotent stem cells in sufficient quantity, purity, and identity for use in cell-based therapy.

 Thompson’s laboratory has already accumulated safety and efficacy animal data that may support an investigational new drug submission to the U.S Food and Drug Administration as early as 2021 for the commencement of clinical trials to treat Huntington’s disease.

“This is an example of the kind of collaboration we will be seeking under our newly-unveiled collaboration and licensing strategy, which is to run parallel to our in-house product development,” said Greg Bailey, chairman of AgeX.

The collaboration includes an opportunity for AgeX to organize a company to be jointly owned with Thompson and other researchers to pursue clinical development and commercialization of cell therapies derived using licensed inventions arising from the research program, as well as certain patent pending technology for neural stem cell derivation, and certain technical data, including animal data, to support submissions to regulators to conduct human clinical studies.

Photo: Greg Bailey, chairman of AgeX

Author: Rare Daily Staff