By Donald Zuhn --
Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) announced that it had entered into a licensing agreement with BioTime, Inc. for 173 of WARF's human embryonic stem cell patents and patent applications (commonly known as the Thomson patents for inventor James Thomson). WARF is a private, non-profit patenting and licensing organization that supports the University of Wisconsin-Madison. WARF noted that with the BioTime agreement, WARF had completed 23 licensing agreements for its stem cell technology with 17 different companies.
BioTime, an Emeryville, California-based biotech company that focuses on the development of blood plasma volume expanders, intends to use the Thomson patent portfolio to enter the field of regenerative medicine, which BioTime believes is the third major revolution in biotechnology (to recombinant DNA technology and genomics). BioTime's subsidiary, Embryome Sciences, Inc., will be handling the company's regenerative medicine work, which will include the development of a technology platform for the identification, scale-up, and purification of different cell types from human embryonic stem cells. BioTime's CEO, Dr. Michael West, has had a long relationshiop with WARF, dating back to his founding of Geron Corporation, which provided early support for Dr. Thomson's work, and which became WARF's first commercial licensee of WARF's stem cell technology.
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
• "It's Time to Stop the Hypocrisy over Stem Cell Patents - Part III," July 4, 2007
• "WARF Responds to the Patent Office on Its Re-examined Stem Cell Patents," June 26, 2007
• "The Potential Usefulness of Adult Stem Cells Reaffirmed," June 25, 2007
• "Can Fibroblasts Solve The Problems with Human Embryonic Stem Cells?" June 15, 2007
• "Massachusetts to Invest $1 Billion on Medical and Science Research," May 10, 2007
• "It's Time to Stop the Hypocrisy over Stem Cell Patents - Part II," April 26, 2007
• "It's Time to Stop the Hypocrisy over Stem Cell Patents - Part I," April 17, 2007
• "WARF Stem Cell Patent Claims Rejected in Re-examination," April 3, 2007
• "NIH Chief Dissents on Federal Stem Cell Funding Ban," March 20, 2007
• "Stem Cells a Go! in California," February 28, 2007
• "Limitations on the Usefulness of Adult Stem Cells," February, 28, 2007
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