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International Stem Cell Corporation, developer of therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and cell-based research and cosmetic products, announced today that they have developed new technologies to commercialize the use of human parthenogenetic stem cells to treat human diseases. The methods announced are able to produce populations of stem cells, in addition to their therapeutically valuable derivatives, at a higher level of purity and at a cost that is several times lower than previously reported techniques.

Specifically, the company's research team has developed a new method of generating high-purity populations of neural stem cells from hpSC, and then further differentiating them into dopaminergic neurons. The method is able to produce sufficient quantities of neuronal cells for the company's pre-clinical and clinical studies. Moreover, it requires substantially less time and labor and uses fewer costly materials than traditional methods. It means that the billions of neuronal cells needed for conducting such studies can now be produced from a small batch of stem cells.

In addition, ISCO has developed a new high-throughput cell culture method for growing human parthenogenetic stem cells in large quantities, a method that is easily scalable and can produce the quantities of cGMP grade hpSC required for commercial and therapeutic applications.

ISCO VP of R&D, Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, said of the new developments: "One of the most challenging issues in commercializing stem cell based treatments is creating high-purity populations of stem cell derivatives at a reasonable cost. I believe the new methods we have developed solve this important problem and help position us for future clinical studies".

ISCO's core technology is parthenogenesis, which can create pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs), thereby avoiding the ethical issues associated with the use or destruction of viable human embryos. The company produced the first parthenogenic homozygous stem cell line, a potential source of therapeutic cells for hundreds of millions of individuals of differing genders, ages, and racial background, with minimal immune rejection after transplantation. Such parthenogenetic stem cells could be the bases for the first true human stem cell bank, UniStemCellTM. The company also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research through its Lifeline Cell Technology subsidiary, as well as stem cell-based skin care products through its Lifeline Skin Care subsidiary.

For additional information, visit the company's website at InternationalStemCell.com

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