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Embargo: 10.30 am Wednesday 8 June 2005
18 coffees later - Bio21 signs up stem cell company
Adult stem cell trial boost for Melbourne
Embargo and launch: 10.30
am Wednesday 8 June:
30 Flemington Road, Parkville, beta sp and stills available
International adult stem cell
leader Cygenics will expand its Melbourne research base at the Bio21
Institute, as part of the company’s efforts to grow and differentiate adult
stem cells outside the body – for cancer treatment and for drug discovery.
The announcement was made by
Victorian Innovation Minister John Brumby at the opening of the University
of Melbourne’s new Bio21 Institute.
“We want the Bio21 Institute to
act as a catalyst – building Melbourne’s biotech research base – and
creating new commercial opportunities. And this is a great start,” said Prof
Dick Wettenhall, Institute director.
“Cygenics is investing in staff,
research and clinical trials at the Bio21 Institute, the Murdoch Childrens
Research Institute and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute,” he said.
By 2012, Jain PharmaBiotech, a
Swiss-based consultancy, estimates that overall global demand for stem cell
transplants will reach US$7.8 billion.
At the Murdoch, Cygenics plans to
take adult stem cells from umbilical cord blood, grow them in simulated bone
marrow and transfuse them back into patients to boost blood cell production.
This technology has been transferred from Cygenics’ Singapore and Boston
facilities to the Murdoch, where the final preparations ready for clinical
trials is expected to be completed by December 2005.
“The potential
of stem cell therapy for many diseases is enormous [but] there simply aren’t
enough stem cells available. This research may well put an end to this
limitation,” says Dr David Ashley, head of the Murdoch’s cancer centre.
In separate trials at the Peter
MacCallum Cancer Institute, the company plans to take skin cells and adult
stem cells from cancer patients and grow them in a simulated thymus,
creating certain new white blood cells (T-cells) that will be transfused
back to boost the immune system following chemotherapy.
The treatment will initially be
aimed at patients with blood-related cancers and patients with low T-cell
counts as a result of treatment. The technology to grow the cells has been
transferred from Cygenics Boston facility to the Peter Mac and clinical
trials are expected to start in early 2006.
Now Cygenics has appointed two new
staff to work at the Bio21 Institute, and is planning to initiate a new
project – creating a simulated liver that will produce liver-like cells for
rapid drug screening.
“It started with a coffee at the
BIO Conference in Washington DC in 2003 with Dick Wettenhall, the Bio21
Director,” said Ian Brown, Cygenics Chief Operating Officer.
“Eighteen coffees and many
meetings later, Dick has proven to us that the Bio21 Institute has the
space, the people, the contacts, the location and the equipment we need to
drive our research forward.”
“We believe the biotech business
incubator at the Bio21 Institute will provide the multidisciplinary
environment our projects need,” said Ian Brown.
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Background
Cygenics and Cordlife
CyGenics is a biotechnology and
immunotherapy company focused on the development and commercialisation of adult
stem cell-related products, services, applications and technologies.
From its headquarters in Melbourne,
Australia, CyGenics operates three divisions:
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Singapore-based CordLife (tissue banking
services, in particular, cord blood banking),
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Cell Sciences (consumable cell culture
products), and
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Cytomatrix (cell therapeutics and technology
development) based in the USA.
CyGenics is listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange in June 2004, under the symbol CYN.
CyGenics Chief Executive Officer, Mr
Steven Fang, established the subsidiary company, CordLife, when he opened
Singapore’s first cord blood bank, a facility in which parents deposit (frozen)
cord blood from their infants. Stem cells extracted from this source are used to
treat blood disorders such as leukaemia, anaemia, and thalassemia.
Then his attention turned to ways of
meeting the rapidly growing demand for stem cells. Despite their enormous
potential, there are simply not enough stem cells to go round.
“Australia was the obvious location
for us,” says Ian Brown, chief operating officer of CyGenics. “Australian
medical institutes have an excellent and cost-effective track record in clinical
trials.”
In May this year CyGenics announced
the appointment of a new team to strengthen its Melbourne-based operations in
preparation for the commencement of clinical trials.
Medical Director, Dr Anne Altmann,
will lead the team. Anne was Head of Department, at the International Centre for
Therapeutic Research, Servier Laboratories (Australia) Pty Ltd where she managed
the implementation and successful completion of over 20 international Phase II
and III clinical trials.
Assisting as Medical Consultant will
be Dr Katie Allen. Dr Allen performed Australia’s first clinical liver cell
transplant in 2004. She is the Principal Research Fellow of the Liver Cell/Stem
Cell Research Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Dr Sahar Bassal will assist as
Research and Clinical Trials Coordinator. Dr Bassal joined the company in April
2004 and has been instrumental in guiding the transfer of the company’s
technology from Boston to Melbourne.
For more information please visit
www.cygenics.com.
The Bio21 business incubator
The Bio21 Institute’s Business Incubator is a 2200m2
refurbished
facility dedicated to nurturing emerging biotechnology
companies.
Located in the heart of the Parkville
biomedical precinct, the incubator offers space and support for early stage
start-ups and related companies.
Incubator companies will also benefit
from the expertise, platform technologies, infrastructure and networks of the
Bio21 Institute.
Opened in June 2005, the Bio21
Institute is Victoria’s major new research and commercialisation centre,
focussed on improving health through biotechnology.
Linking multidisciplinary research,
platform technology and industry, the Institute will drive innovation in
discovery and development and support Australia’s growing biotechnology
community.
The Institute is the flagship
development of the Bio21 Project, which draws together many of Victoria’s
leading universities, research institutes, hospitals and industry. Bio21 Project
members together offer research capabilities “from bench to bedside.”
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Images
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The cytomatrix used by Cygenics to grow adult stem
cells |
Ian Brown |
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THE
BIO21 INSTITUTE: OPENING CEREMONY
