26/02/10
First non-embryonic stem cell patent granted outside Japan
HLBBshaw Director Richard Bizley and Senior Attorney Marc Wilkinson have achieved recent success in the grant of the first patent, outside of Japan, relating to human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. This important new technology allows the creation of human cells which, functionally, closely resemble embryonic stem (ES) cells. Human iPS cells have the potential to differentiate into many cell types and therefore have obvious potential in human disease therapy. Significantly, however, iPS cells can be created from non-embryonic tissues and consequently the need for human embryos can be circumvented.
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