Orgenesis SPRL, a subsidiary of Orgenesis, a leader in the emerging fields of cellular therapy and regenerative medicine, has received the formal approval from the Walloon Region, Belgium (Service Public of Wallonia, DG06) for a €2.015 million support programme for the research and development of a potential cure for type 1 diabetes.

The financial support is composed of a 1,085,000 euros (70 per cent of budgeted costs) grant for the industrial research part of the research programme and a further recoverable advance of 930,000 euros (60 per cent of budgeted costs) of the experimental development part of the research programme. The grants will be paid to Orgenesis over a period of approximately 3 years. The grants are subject to certain conditions respecting our conducting the work in the Walloon Region, our own investment in these projects and certain other conditions.

“We are extremely appreciative of the Walloon Region’s willingness to support the Orgenesis European activity with this grant,” said Vered Caplan, chairperson and chief executive officer, of Orgenesis. “This approval, once more justifies the decision by Orgenesis to set up our development and manufacturing activity in the Walloon Region. This location has become a central hub for cell therapy in Europe, where we have found advanced development and manufacturing partnerships and service providers, such as Pall Corporation, through its recently purchased subsidiary ATMI, and MaSTherCell, a contract developer specialising in cell therapy products, and industrial and financial support by the Wallonian Minister of the Innovation and Research.”

Orgenesis is pioneering work in developing technology to successfully reprogramme human liver cells into glucose-responsive, fully functional Insulin Producing Cells (IPCs). The objective of the European programme is to continue the development of a cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) and implement it on a high-efficiency industrial scale, which will enable Orgenesis to obtain functional Insulin Producing Cells (IPC) in large quantities from the livers of patients suffering from type 1 diabetes.

“Orgenesis has demonstrated tremendous innovation in its research and development efforts to date,” said Michel Charlier, DGO6 General Inspector. “Their therapies hold great promise in how type 1 diabetes will be treated around the world. Orgenesis represents the type of innovative company we seek to support and foster in the Walloon Region.”

DG06 Economy Employment Research is a branch of the Administration of Wallonia, Belgium. Through its Technology Development Department, the Walloon Region has set up several attractive incentives to boost regional innovation and research, to support companies, from start-ups to well-established enterprises in their way to innovation and successful development.

Orgenesis is a development stage company that is committed to curing type 1 diabetes. In pursuit of this goal, the company is developing a novel technology that combines cellular therapy and regenerative medicine. Through a proprietary biologic process called “cellular trans-differentiation,” Orgenesis has proven that, when exposed ex vivo to certain pancreatic transcription factors and in specific sequence, human adult liver cells can be transformed into fully functional, beta cell-like insulin producing cells (IPCs).