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Print Edition StoriesMonday, May 18, 2009
Stem cell startup claims IP from local hospitals
By Mass High Tech staff
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Intellectual property surrounding stem cell modulators, and belonging both to Children’s Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital, has been granted exclusively to Fate Therapeutics Inc., a La Jolla, Calif.-based biotech that houses some of its research in the Boston area.
Stem cell modulators are “small molecules and biologics that guide cell fate for therapeutic purposes,” according to a Fate Therapeutics press release. The technology was developed by Leonard Zon, director of the stem cell program at Children’s Hospital and scientific founder of Fate Therapeutics.
The stem cell modulators are formed through a combination of adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The company reports on its website that adult stem cells are found naturally in tissues and organs; iPS cells come from mature differentiated cells.
Fate Therapeutics plans to add the exclusive rights of the stem cell modulators to its technology for treating cancer.
Founded in 2007, Fate Therapeutics relies on research conducted in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle. It closed a $15 million Series A round of venture capital financing, in its first year, from such blue-chip backers as Polaris Venture Partners of Waltham. The company involves such local notables as David Scadden, a director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and scientific founder of Fate; Polaris Venture general partner Amir Nashat, a director at Fate; and scientific advisory board members Robert Langer and Ram Sasisekharan, both MIT professors.
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