美國iPierian
iPierian公司是2009年7月 iZumi Bio, Inc.與Pierian, Inc.合并而成的新公司,這所新公司合并后將致力于細胞重編的應用,從而改變藥物發現的模式。該公司在科技領域的領導地位將加快新療法的開發,從而將誘導功能干細胞 (iPS) 應用于疑難病患者。
John Walker是iZumi Bio公司的首席執行官,這是一家位于南舊金山市的生物技術公司,它主要著眼于研究使用源自病人的重新編程皮膚細胞來篩選新的藥物化合物,用來治療神經退行性疾病,比如脊髓性肌萎縮、肌萎縮性脊髓側索硬化和帕金森氏病,他說:“對誘導多能干細胞的最初申請也是最好的,它實實在在地改變了藥物發現的范例。它復制了一套在體系統,以用于你的藥物發現系統。這是真正嶄新的生物學——它把病人放在了藥物發現過程的最前端。”
iZumi公司是兩家風險投資企業在德國化學巨人拜耳公司的一家日本子公司――Bayer Yakuhin公司的三個專利基礎上,于2007年成立的。除了這些專利之外,iZumi 正在進行其戰略擴張,其中包括與京都大學的山中伸彌教授的非獨家合作,目標是開發新的方法來獲得高質量的誘導多能干細胞品系;還有與舊金山加州大學的Gladstone研究所的合作,主要進行心血管疾病治療學的研發。在今后五年內,該公司預期有兩種化合物進入臨床試驗。
iPierian is a pioneering biopharmaceutical company that is taking the cutting-edge technologies of cellular reprogramming and directed differentiation to an entirely new level to harness the power of induced pluripotent stem cells to advance the understanding of human diseases and accelerate the discovery of more effective therapeutics for patients.
iPierian has built one of the most qualified teams of stem cell scientists in the world, combining the expertise of the founding scientists of what was formerly iZumi Bio with internationally-renowned scientists from top institutions such as the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and University of California San Francisco among others. iPierian is the first company to apply cellular reprogramming and directed differentiation to cells that are derived from patients representing a broad spectrum of diseases.
iPierian will apply cellular reprogramming and differentiation, including its iPS technology, to find new molecular targets and develop proprietary therapeutics for its own pipeline to treat specific diseases. iPierian is focusing on diseases for which there are poor in vivo and in vitro models and limited treatments to date. iPierian plans to initially develop a proprietary pipeline focused on three neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. iPierian scientists have demonstrated the ability to differentiate the affected cell types in these disorders. The company is also working on calcific aortic valve disease through its collaboration with the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease.
In addition to its proprietary pipeline, iPierian will further expand into cardiovascular and metabolic diseases through collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry partners.
Because iPierian’s technology is based on the reprogramming of human adult somatic cells into a pluripotent state, the ethical issues specific to human embryos and human embryonic stem cells are avoided. Additionally, our disease-relevant differentiated cell lines offer numerous advantages over embryonic stem cells, particularly in the ability to reveal specific genotypes of disease, and ultimately offer a paradigm-changing technology for investigating and reclassifying major diseases by genotypic and phenotypic subtypes.