ViaCyte Granted Over 20 Patents in 2013 Further Establishing the Company as a Leader in the Field of Regenerative Medicine

Via ViaCyte:

San Diego, California, October 29, 2013 — ViaCyte, Inc., a leading regenerative medicine company focused on developing new approaches to treat major diseases through the application of a stem cell-derived cell therapy, announced today that the Company was granted over 20 patents worldwide in 2013 thus far, three U.S. and twenty foreign. These patents enhance the Company’s already strong proprietary position for its VC-01™ combination product as well as other applications of its broad technology platform.

The VC-01™ product is a stem cell derived, cell therapy that the company believes could transform the way patients with Type 1 diabetes manage their disease.  The product combines pancreatic progenitor cells called PEC-01, produced by a directed differentiation process, encapsulated with a semi-permeable device called the Encaptra® Drug Delivery System, both are proprietary technologies. The VC-01 product is designed to be inserted under the skin followed by vascularization and maturation of the PEC cells to islet-like structures that provide insulin and other regulatory factors in response to blood glucose levels. If the product performs as expected it will provide patients with a replacement for the pancreatic endocrine cells lost as a result of the disease.

With the patents granted this year, ViaCyte’s patent portfolio includes over 80 issued patents and 230 pending applications that encompass innovations from the Company’s internal research and development efforts.  The portfolio includes U.S. and foreign patents and applications directed to culture, expansion and scale-up of pluripotent stem cells and cell types derived therefrom, various differentiation processes for production of mesendoderm, definitive endoderm, PEC-01, and endocrine precursors, as well as claims directed to  the Company’s Encaptra® macro-encapsulation device platform.  The patents include composition of matter, method of use, and process claims.

Read more: http://viacyte.com/press-releases/viacyte-granted-over-20-patents-in-2013-further-establishing-the-company-as-a-leader-in-the-field-of-regenerative-medicine/