Firm plans to develop stem cell enabling therapeutic products via the patented method.
CellCyte Genetics reports that U.S. patent 7,282,222 has been granted for a methods and compositions approach to deliver and direct stem cells to target organs in the body. Using this technology, exclusively licensed to CellCyte from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the company says it is developing stem cell enabling therapeutic products designed to allow more efficient delivery and significantly increased retention of adult stem cells to diseased and other target organs such as the heart.
“The goal of CellCyte’s stem cell targeting/retention therapies is to enhance the number of cells available for regeneration of damaged tissue and thereby markedly increase opportunities for healing and restoring organ function,” notes Ronald Berninger, CSO.
“The company’s first product in development, CCG-TH30, is designed to target autologous bone-marrow-derived stem cells to the heart of patients after a heart attack.”
In preclinical models, acording to Berninger, CCG-TH30 has been shown to increase the retention of stem cells up to as much as 77% in preclinical models as compared to conventional methods, which “achieve only up to about 6%.” CellCyte’s product candidate, along with stem cells, can be delivered intravenously through a patient’s circulatory system without an invasive procedure, he adds.
CellCyte Genetics is completing preclinical studies and in 2008 expects to move to a Phase I human clinical trial using the compound for the heart.
In addition to this indication, the patenting of the technology opens up the possibility for gene therapy and the delivery of a variety of other payloads to the heart via the stem cell vehicle, says Berninger.
