The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO), a California-based biotechnology company, a patent for a method of creating pure populations of definitive endoderm, precursor cells to liver and pancreas cells, from human pluripotent stem cells. This patent is a key element of ISCO's metabolic liver disease programme and allows the Company to produce the necessary quantities of precursor cells in a more efficient and cost effective manner.

The patent, 8,268,621, adds to the Company's growing portfolio of proprietary technologies relating to the development of potential treatments for incurable diseases using human parthenogenetic Stem Cells (hpSC). Human parthenogenetic stem cells are unique pluripotent stem cells that offer the possibility to reduce the cost of health care while avoiding the ethical issues that surround the use of fertilized human embryos. Aside from the Company's current liver disease programme, this new patented method can be used as a route to create pancreatic and endocrine cells that could be used in future studies of diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

ISCO currently has the largest collection of hpSC including cell lines which immune match the donor, as is the case with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and cell lines which immune-match millions of individuals and potentially reduce tissue rejection issues. The Company is focusing its therapeutic development efforts on three clinical applications where cell and tissue therapy is already proven but where there currently is an insufficient supply of safe and efficacious cells: Parkinson's disease, inherited/metabolic liver diseases and corneal blindness.

International Stem Cell Corporation is focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products.