Novo Nordisk partners on stem cell-based therapies

Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) today announced an increased commitment to stem cell-based therapies and an expansion of the focus on type 1 diabetes into other serious chronic diseases.

This has been made possible through an exclusive collaboration with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in which a first milestone in the development of human embryonic stem cell lines has been reached.

Under the terms of the agreement with UCSF, Novo Nordisk has licensed a technology to enable the generation of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliant human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines as well as the rights to further develop these into future regenerative medicine therapies. In early May, the partners reached an important milestone with the inauguration of a new GMP laboratory at UCSF where employees from the university and Novo Nordisk will be working together on deriving the cell lines that are expected to define a new quality standard in production of stem cell-based therapies.