GE Healthcare and Cellectis agree to sublicense for stem cell patents
CHALFONT ST. GILES, UK –– GE Healthcare Life Sciences, (NYSE: GE) and Cellectis Group (Alternext: ALCLS), the global genome engineering specialist, announced today that GE Healthcare has licenced Cellectis to develop, manufacture and sell models derived from stem cells for use in drug discovery and toxicity screening. The agreement follows the announcement that GE Healthcare has expanded its licence with Geron to obtain exclusive global rights to Geron’s intellectual property and know-how for the development and sale of cellular assays derived from stem cells. Financial terms were not disclosed.
As the worldwide pharmaceutical industry seeks to reduce drug development costs and bring more effective, safer drugs to market, the availability of more biologically relevant and predictive cell models becomes increasingly important. GE Healthcare is pioneering the development of human cell-based assays and models for use in drug discovery and predictive toxicity screening. In 2010 the company launched CytivaTM cardiomyocytes (human heart cells), stem cell-based assays that are already helping pharmaceutical companies identify drug candidates that show toxic effects much earlier in the discovery process.
Eric Roman, General Manager, Research and Applied Markets, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said, “We believe it is important that stem cell-based assays are available to researchers so that progress can be made in drug discovery; clarity and freedom to operate is fundamental to advancing the use of such assays. Granting licenses to companies like Cellectis and the previously announced license agreement with Cellular Dynamics Inc. is key to enabling the wider industry to benefit from the use of this important intellectual property without violating patent rights.”
Contact Information
Name
Dr Val Jones
Division
GE Healthcare
Phone
+44 1494 498052
Mobile
+44 7917 175192
val.jones@ge.com
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter – great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.
