Date: 2013-11-04
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: drug screening assays using stem cell-derived astrocytes
Company: Merck Serono (Germany) Kadimastem (Israel)
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease: multiple sclerosis
Details: * On November 4, 2013, Merck Serono and Kadimastem, a developer of human pluripotent stem cell-based drug screening and therapeutic solutions, have announced the signing of an MOU aimed at advancing the two companies’ current stem cell-based drug screening collaboration which was initiated in April 2012.
Kadimastem has developed technologies to differentiate stem cells into oligodendrocytes. In multiple sclerosis oligodendrocytes are destroyed by the immune system. Kadimastem and Merck Serono have been leveraging cell-based drug screening technology to discover compounds which stimulate differentiation and myelination. A key goal of the newly signed MOU is to establish drug screening assays using stem cell-derived astrocytes.
* On April 4, 2012, Kadimastem has announced the signing of a five year framework agreement with Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA. The agreement concerns the use of Kadimastem\'s drug-screening platform to discover new oral drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The system developed by Kadimastem, allows using human functional tissues produced industrially from pluripotent stem cells as a means to search for potential new drugs, a direct approach that has advantages over the use of animals. In multiple sclerosis, the insulating myelin sheaths which cover many nerves in the brain and spinal cord are destroyed, due to loss of the myelin-forming cells, resulting in the impairment of nerve function and severe neurological disabilities. The drug-screening project to be carried out through the Kadimastem-Merck Serono agreement, aims at the discovery of potential oral drugs that act by stimulating myelin repair.
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