Fate Therapeutics Created to Pursue New Approaches to Stem Cell Therapies

03-Dec-2007

A group of leaders in stem cell biology announced formation of Fate Therapeutics, a new biotechnology company developing drugs to control cell fate. Fate will harness the healing power of adult stem cells by using small molecule drugs to modulate cells in vivo (in the body) and by reprogramming mature adult cells into stem cells.

"Fate's approach is the dawn of a new day in medicine," said Dr. Ben Shapiro, retired Executive Vice President of Worldwide Basic Research, Merck Research Laboratories, and a member of Fate's Science Advisory Board.

"Revolutionary advances in stem cell research have shifted the entire debate. We are proving that adult stem cell proliferation and differentiation can be modulated in the human body, and we now have the ability to induce pluripotent stem cells from adult human tissue rather than relying on the use of stem cells derived from embryos."

The company expects to have a lead adult stem cell modulating drug, in a cancer-related indication, enter the clinic in 2008.

The Fate platform focuses on both regenerative and reprogramming medicine. The Fate regenerative medicine platform involves developing drugs that awaken adult stem cells in the body to repair damaged cells and tissues. The Fate reprogramming medicine platform involves developing drugs to reprogram mature adult cells into stem cells, which when differentiated can become healthy heart, bone, brain or other tissues.

Applications of these two approaches include treating the effects of neurological diseases such as Down syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's; healing damaged heart tissue after heart attacks; increasing bone and muscle strength in the severely frail; and protecting organs after infection or transplantation. Fate will also tackle devastating cancers, such as pancreatic and colorectal cancer, by developing drugs to prevent the expansion and maturation of cancer stem cells.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/75326/fate-therapeutics-created-to-pursue-new-approaches-to-stem-cell-therapies.html