Cytori Therapeutics and GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, entered into a commercialisation agreement with GE Healthcare. As per the deal, GE Healthcare will commercialise Cytori's StemSource technology in the North American stem cell banking and research markets.

The StemSource technology includes automated equipment to process stem and regenerative cells found in adipose tissue, cryopreserve them or use them directly for research purposes.

In January 2009, Cytori and GE Healthcare had formed a separate agreement to commercialise Cytori's products in ten European countries. This includes selling the Celution 800/CRS System in the European cosmetic and reconstructive surgery market as well as selling StemSource products in the European cell banking and research markets.

"Expanding our commercialization partnership into North America will allow us to take advantage of GE Healthcare's established stem cell banking and research customer-base," said Christopher J Calhoun, chief executive officer for Cytori Therapeutics. "Both organizations recognize there is an existing demand in the United States for these products and we look forward to making the StemSource technology available in the US in the first half of 2009."

The partnership entered into is similar in nature to the European agreement, but is limited to the sale of StemSource banking and research products in the US, Canada and Mexico for 18 months starting in the second quarter of 2009. This agreement does not include US commercialization of Cytori's Celution System, which is currently under review by the FDA.

"This agreement between GE Healthcare and Cytori is important for our growing life sciences business," says Konstantin Fiedler, general manager, Cell Technologies at GE Healthcare. "Our US sales team, like that in Europe, is seeing growing customer demand for adipose related cell technology, both from our existing stem cell banking customers as well as our research customers involved in the development of cell therapies. An expanded partnership with Cytori gives our US sales team access to these first-in-class products for these markets in the US."

Cytori develops and globally commercializes regenerative medicine technologies, which provide real-time, point-of-care access to clinical grade regenerative cells.

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care.