Media Releases

Canadian Regenerative Medicine Community Growing Stronger

October 29, 2012

TORONTO, ON – The col­lab­o­ra­tive net­work cre­at­ed by the Cen­tre for Com­mer­cial­iza­tion of Regen­er­a­tive Med­i­cine (CCRM) has been strength­ened with the addi­tion of Stem Cell Ther­a­peu­tics Corp. to its 20-mem­ber indus­try con­sor­tium.

“I am pleased to wel­come Stem Cell Ther­a­peu­tics Corp. to the indus­try con­sor­tium,” says Dr. Michael May, CEO of CCRM. “Since our Cen­tre mobi­lizes busi­ness and sci­en­tif­ic exper­tise to trans­late regen­er­a­tive med­i­cine (RM) and stem cell-based med­ical dis­cov­er­ies into com­mer­cial prod­ucts and ther­a­pies, the indus­try con­sor­tium pro­vides crit­i­cal exper­tise, expe­ri­ence and mar­ket-pull infor­ma­tion for the devel­op­ment of inno­v­a­tive RM tech­nolo­gies. We are delight­ed to have them on board.”

CCRM is work­ing with its indus­try con­sor­tium to address real-life bot­tle­necks in their RM and stem cell-based prod­uct pipelines. The com­pa­nies in the indus­try con­sor­tium rep­re­sent the key sec­tors of the indus­try: ther­a­peu­tics, devices, reagents and cells as tools.

“Being includ­ed in CCRM’s indus­try con­sor­tium is a step in the repo­si­tion­ing of our com­pa­ny – an aim described in our cor­po­rate objec­tives – to par­tic­i­pate along with the oth­er 20 Cana­di­an, Amer­i­can and inter­na­tion­al com­pa­nies,” says David Allan, Exec­u­tive Chair­man of Stem Cell Ther­a­peu­tics Corp. “The con­cept of CCRM as a hub for the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of Canada’s extra­or­di­nary com­mit­ment to stem cell research, and its pro­vi­sion of facil­i­ties and infra­struc­ture, is out­stand­ing.

“As Canada’s only pub­lic com­pa­ny ded­i­cat­ed to the devel­op­ment of stem cell ther­a­peu­tics from aca­d­e­m­ic research, we hope to become one of CCRM’s com­mer­cial­iza­tion part­ners of choice for the nov­el work ongo­ing at so many of Canada’s inter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized aca­d­e­m­ic cen­tres.”

To date, CCRM has launched its first indus­try project with EMD Mil­li­pore and cre­at­ed an inno­va­tion fund with Pfiz­er Cana­da. CCRM has built three core devel­op­ment plat­forms: repro­gram­ming and engi­neer­ing; cell man­u­fac­tur­ing; and, bio­ma­te­ri­als and devices to car­ry out projects com­mis­sioned by acad­e­mia and indus­try. CCRM has a ful­ly resourced, 6,000 square foot devel­op­ment facil­i­ty where all devel­op­ment work takes place.

Please vis­it www.ccrm.ca to see a com­plete list of CCRM’s indus­try con­sor­tium mem­bers.

About the Cen­tre for Com­mer­cial­iza­tion of Regen­er­a­tive Med­i­cine (CCRM)

CCRM, a Cana­di­an not-for-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion fund­ed by the Gov­ern­ment of Canada’s Net­works of Cen­tres of Excel­lence pro­gram and six aca­d­e­m­ic part­ners, sup­ports the devel­op­ment of tech­nolo­gies that accel­er­ate the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of stem cell- and bio­ma­te­ri­als-based tech­nolo­gies and ther­a­pies. A net­work of aca­d­e­mics, indus­try and entre­pre­neurs, CCRM aims to trans­late sci­en­tif­ic dis­cov­er­ies into mar­ketable prod­ucts for patients. CCRM launched in Toronto’s Dis­cov­ery Dis­trict on June 14, 2011.

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For more infor­ma­tion:

Stacey John­son
Man­ag­er, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Cen­tre for Com­mer­cial­iza­tion of Regen­er­a­tive Med­i­cine (CCRM)
110 – 100 Col­lege Street
Cell:647–309-1830
Office: 416–978-3751
stacey.johnson@ccrm.ca
www.ccrm.ca