NESS ZIONA, Israel, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Israeli biotechnology company Kadimastem (TASE: KDST) announces it has received patent allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, for its innovative technology in the field of diabetes treatment.
The patent is for a method of producing insulin-secreting cells from stem cells, and it is likely to constitute the foundation for the company’s products in the field of stem-cell based treatment of diabetes.
Additionally, the company is in the process of receiving approval for the patent in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel.
Kadimastem is working to develop innovative treatments for a number of severe diseases by transplanting cells and tissues differentiated from human stem cells.
Yossi Ben-Yossef, Kadimastem’s CEO, noted: “We are happy about the approval of the patent in the United States and the strengthening of our intellectual property in general and in the field of diabetes in particular. Kadimastem develops innovative treatments in the field of stem cells - a highly demanded field in medicine. In addition, as the US market is the largest market for the company’s future products, the granting of the patent in the US is particularly important”.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a family of chronic disease characterized by high blood sugar levels and sugar intolerance due to insulin deficiency, impaired insulin effectiveness or both. The two types of diabetes, diabetes type I and diabetes type II, are different in their causes and clinical representation of the disorder. According to estimates, there were over 415 million diabetes patients worldwide in 2014, and the figure is expected to exceed 642 million in 2040 (http://www.idf.org/atlasmap/atlasmap). The American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimates the cost of diabetes patients in the United States alone in 2012 (the last year for which there are complete data) at $245 billion per year. The global cost is estimated at $673 billion, and is expected to reach $790 billion by 2040 (http://www.idf.org/atlasmap/atlasmap).
About Kadimastem
Kadimastem is a biotechnology company, operating in the field of regenerative medicine - a groundbreaking field in which the malfunctioning of organs which leads to diseases is repaired by external cells, tissues or organs. The company specializes in the development of human stem cell-based medical solutions for the treatment of diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS and Multiple Sclerosis. The company was founded in August 2009 by Professor Michel Revel and Yossi Ben Yossef, and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: KDST). Kadimastem employs 32 people, of which 11 are PhDs, and its 1,700m[2] offices and labs are located in the Ness Ziona Science Park.
Kadimastem was founded based on patent protected technology that was developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Prof. Michel Revel’s laboratory. Prof. Revel, who serves as the company’s Chief Scientist and director, developed Merck KGaA’s blockbuster drug, Rebif® for the treatment of MS (sales of around $2.4 billion sales in 2014).
Based on the company’s unique platform, Kadimastem is developing two types of medical applications: A. Regenerative medicine, which repairs and replaces organs and tissue by using functioning cells differentiated from stem cells. The company focuses on transplanting healthy brain cells to support the survivability of nerve cells as cell therapy for ALS, and transplanting insulin-secreting pancreatic cells for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes; B. Drug screening platforms, which use functional human cells and tissues to discover new medicinal drugs. The company has two collaboration agreements with leading global pharmaceutical companies.
The company is headed by Yossi Ben-Yossef, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in life sciences companies. The company’s chairman is Dr. Eli Opper, formerly the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Labor and Trade, and its investors include Altshuler Shaham Investment House, foreign investors (Julien Ruggieri and Avi Meizler), and the company’s founders.
Kadimastem has an extensive scientific advisory board, featuring prominent scientists and pioneers: in the embryonic stem cells field, Professor Benjamin Reubinoff and Professor Joseph Itskovich, in the neurodegenerative disease field, Professor Tamir Ben-Hur, and in the diabetes field, Professor Shimon Efrat and Professor Eddy Karnieli.
Contact
Kadimastem
Yehuda Feinberg, +972-73-7971600
y.feinberg@kadimastem.com
SOURCE Kadimastem
