Minerva Biotechnologies and iPS Academia Japan, Inc. have signed an agreement granting Minerva worldwide rights to use and commercialise the induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells patent portfolio arising from the work of professor Shinya Yamanaka, MD, Ph.D who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 for his discovery of four genes that can reprogramme an adult’s cell to go back in time to become that person’s own stem cell.

Minerva Biotechnologies discovered a naturally occurring, primitive growth factor that continues this reprogramming to an even earlier, embryonic-like point called the ‘naïve’ state.

Scientists believe that because these earlier, naïve stem cells have a clean slate, they are more easily directed to develop into functional mature cells, which could be used for transplant. Naïve stem cells have several advantages over currently available stem cells known as ‘primed’ state. These advantages are important for the future of stem cell therapies. Naïve stem cells do not yet have DNA methylation marks that commit the cells to certain developmental decisions. Additionally, naïve stem cells have a much higher cloning efficiency than primed state cells, which is critical for the realisation of stem cell based gene therapies. Importantly, only naïve stem cells can contribute to the generation of chimeric animals. A futuristic stem cell therapy, which may not be that far off, is the generation of human-non-human chimeras that would express some human tissues or even entire human organs, for transplant.

Minerva’s proprietary primitive stem cell growth factor dramatically increases the efficiency of making human iPS cells, which greatly reduces the time and the cost of making iPS cells for research or for personalised stem cell banking. A problem that currently plagues the stem cell field is that although protocols have been devised that direct stem cells to mature into specific cell types, not every iPS cell line can mature into any cell type. As a consequence, researchers have to test many stem cell clones to determine which ones can form heart cells, which ones can form liver cells, etc. This problem is called ‘clonal restriction’ and would make personalised stem cell therapy impractical. In contrast, human iPS cells generated with Minerva’s technology are not clonally restricted; each of our human iPS cell clones has been demonstrated to have the ability to mature into heart cells, liver cells or neural cells. Minerva’s naïve state human iPS cells, or mature cells generated from, can be rapidly and inexpensively generated for use in basic research, drug toxicity testing or for personalised stem cell banking.

The agreement with iPS Academia Japan allows Minerva to generate and sell naïve state human iPS cells as well as mature cells derived from them, for research, drug toxicity testing and for personalized stem cell banking. Minerva Biotechnologies is the first company to generate human naïve state iPS cells using a single, naturally occurring human stem cell growth factor. Previous attempts to grow human stem cells in the elusive naïve state, which used cocktails of biochemical inhibitors and mouse growth factors, were prone to develop abnormal karyotype. Naïve stem cells generated with Minerva’s primitive growth factor have normal and stable karyotype. The generation of iPS cells from adult skin or blood cells does not involve the use of embryos and so does not invoke ethical issues.

“The agreement with iPS Academia Japan provides Minerva with a powerful combination of technologies that will advance the study of basic science as well as accelerate the timeline to clinical applications of regenerative medicine,” said Dr. Cynthia Bamdad, CEO Minerva Biotechnologies. “We are very excited about our relationship with iPS Academia Japan that allows us to disseminate our technology to others.”

“iPS Academia Japan is pleased to grant a non-exclusive license to Minerva Biotechnologies. Distribution of iPS cell products or provision of services are important for development of iPS cell research and its practical application,” said Mitsuomi Shirahashi, president and CEO of iPS Academia Japan, Inc. “We believe that this collaboration can contribute to the significant step toward bright future of iPS cell technology.”

Minerva Biotechnologies is a pioneer in the field of stem cells and cancer stem cells.

iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) is an affiliate of Kyoto University, and its main role is to manage and utilise the patents and other intellectual properties held/controlled by Kyoto University and other institutions in the field of iPS cell technologies so that the research results contribute to health and welfare worldwide.