Celgene Cellular Therapeutics (CCT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Celgene Corporation announced that its intellectual property estate was strengthened by the issuance of United States Patent No. 7,045,148 by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).

This patent is the first issued by the USPTO that claims certain of CCT's proprietary methodologies for recovering a variety of placental-derived stem cells (PDSCs) from a human placenta following birth. PDSCs appear to be highly versatile and may have the potential to repair and regenerate a broad range of damaged or diseased tissues. CCT scientists have successfully differentiated PDSCs into a variety of specialized cells including, for example, neurons, adipocytes, chondrocytes, osteocytes, insulin-producing cells, and cardiac cells. CCT programs are targeting the development of PDSC populations for use in neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.

CCT has established a leading role in discovering, characterizing, and researching PDSCs, cells that provide many advantages over cells derived from other sources. The collection and processing of the placenta presents little or no risk to the donor and is an ethical source of pluripotent cells.

"We are extremely pleased to have received fundamental coverage for our placental-derived stem cell platform technology," said Robert J. Hariri, CEO of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics. "Placental- derived stem cells represent a new and exciting class of stem cells which have the advantage of originating from a readily available, non-controversial tissue source. As we gain in our understanding of PDSCs we can see their therapeutic potential for treating patients with debilitating diseases and unmet medical needs. In addition, with over four million births per year in the US, this technology provides an ethical solution to the anticipated demand for large quantities of high quality, pluripotent stem cells for meaningful research and clinical use," he added.

CCT has created an enrolment, procurement, processing, testing, and cryopreservation, monitoring and quality infrastructure to support the development of placental-derived stem cells for a variety of clinical indications. These systems are designed for and operated in compliance with the Good Tissue Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices of the US FDA. The scope and focus of the programmes at CCT are intended to meet the scale and standards necessary to provide cellular therapy products.