Japanese company Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. has signed a Technical License Agreement with Haifa-based Accellta. Accellta, which was founded in 2012, develops culture media and culture methods for stem cells production designed to offer high quality affordable stem cell culturing solutions.
Accellta was founded on the basis of stem cell research and development efforts at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Accellta has developed stem cell culture media and methods that facilitate, among other things, high speed mass culturing of stem cells. Its technologies have been presented at major international academic conferences and garnered high acclaim.
Accellta`s novel stem cell growth technologies are aimed at accelerating the use of stem cells for clinical and regenerative applications by providing large quantities of stem cells for high-throughput drug screening and development, providing raw material for the use of stem cells within therapeutic applications, and supporting the growth of 3D printing and bio- fabrication.
The investors in Accellta are the late Alfred Mann's AMIT (Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion), which commercializes medical technologies developed at the Technion, and Li Ka-shing's Horizon Ventures, which have altogether invested $4 million. Accellta's CEO is Dr. Michal Amit.
Hitachi Chemical has obtained the license for Accellta's latest media, which is devoid of human/animal derived components and comprises only artificially synthesized substances, offering a high level of safety that is key to the success of regenerative medicine.
Hitachi Chemical announced its entry into the contracted cell manufacturing market for regenerative medicine in March 2016. In May 2017, Hitachi Chemical completed its acquisition of the US-based company now named Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions, LLC. With the Technology License Agreement signed with Accellta and the utilization of licensed technologies relating to Accellta`s stem cell culture media and culture methods, Hitachi Chemical now seeks to reinforce its technological strength in contracted cell manufacturing for regenerative medicine to achieve high quality, low-priced cell production.
Accellta also has agreements with US company Thermo Fisher and others. It is also considering development of an independent product. Its annual revenue is in the millions of dollars and it says that it is close to operational breakeven. Accellta recently announced that it was aiming at a merger or an IPO within a few years.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 13, 2018
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