Is Big Pharma tiptoeing into embryonic stem cells?
By David Hamilton,
Venture Beat
| 04. 17. 2007
For what appears to be the first time, a major drug company has plunked down a significant equity investment in embryonic stem cells.
Earlier today, VentureWire reported (sub required) that Novocell, an early-stage San Diego biotech that aims to treat diabetes with the embryonic cells, is hoping to raise $35 million in a third round of funding. The interesting thing, however, isn't so much the money as the identity of the lead investor: Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., the venture arm of pharmaceutical giant J&J.
The news grabbed my attention because to date, Big Pharma has shown relatively little interest in the smaller biotechs working on embryonic stem-cell therapeutics, with the standard explanation that the field is too young and in need of some solid clinical success before the big guys can get involved. Political controversy over the destruction of embryos - necessary to derive the stem cells - probably also inclines the naturally cautious pharmas to move even more carefully. (Novacell intends to make new insulin-producing islet cells from embryonic cells, then transplant them into diabetics.)
Here are some...
Related Articles
By Rhys Blakely, The Times | 06.24.2025
Scientists have created fertile mice from male genetic material alone, a breakthrough that could one day open the door to human babies who inherit their genes from two fathers.
The experiment, led by Professor Yanchang Wei at Shanghai Jiao Tong...
By Ron Leuty, San Francisco Business Times | 06.16.2025
23andMe's two-step sale to a nonprofit led by former CEO Anne Wojcicki is nothing more than a dance around California's genetic privacy law, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a filing late Monday, one day before a judge will...
By Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma | 06.16.2025
A second patient has died following treatment with Sarepta Therapeutics’ Elevidys, raising more doubts about the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy’s safety profile.
Sarepta and its ex-U.S. partner Roche reported the death early Sunday. Like the first case, disclosed...
By Gina Kolata, The New York Times | 06.20.2025
A single infusion of a stem cell-based treatment may have cured 10 out of 12 people with the most severe form of type 1 diabetes. One year later, these 10 patients no longer need insulin. The other two patients need...