Stem Cell Sciences Enters into Services Agreeme...

CAMBRIDGE, England, November 10 /PRNewswire/ --

- ("Stem Cell Sciences", "SCS", "the Company")

    Stem Cell Sciences plc (AIM:STEM, ASX:STC), a company focused on the
commercialisation of stem cells and stem cell technologies, announces that it
has entered into an agreement with CHDI Foundation, Inc., to support the
standardisation of CHDI's novel mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines. CHDI is
a US non-profit organisation pursuing treatments for Huntington's disease
(HD). The cell lines have been produced over a period of several years under
varying conditions, and conversion to a standard methodology is expected to
facilitate their use in HD-related research towards the development of new HD
drugs and diagnostics.



    CHDI and its collaborators have developed a unique series of 20 ES cell
lines from genetically modified mouse models that mimic aspects of
Huntington's disease. These cell lines and mouse models represent an
important tool for medical researchers to use in a wide variety of research
programmes in HD, a genetic neurological disorder affecting 7 in 100,000
people. High-quality mouse ES cells are expected to be important and valuable
for drug target validation and drug screening efforts.



    Under the service agreement announced today, SCS will create standard
culture conditions for CHDI's mouse ES cell lines using its serum-free and
feeder-free ESGRO Complete(TM) media. Financial terms have not been
disclosed. Initially, SCS will convert three cell lines to the standardised
culture conditions and will monitor their viability and stability during this
process. If successful, the Company may have the opportunity to apply its
proprietary technologies across the entire range of CHDI's mouse ES cell
lines, as well as providing the Foundation and researchers with media and
reagents for future programmes.



    "Switching these cell lines to ESGRO Complete(TM) media will allow
researchers around the world to apply uniform media and growth conditions for
easy maintenance of CHDI's mouse model ES cell lines, removing a substantial
source of experimental variability," said George Murphy, Senior Vice
President of SCS LLC. "The deal is a further validation of the quality of
SCS' media, and repeat use of CHDI's cell lines is expected to generate
further revenue growth from ESGRO Complete(TM)."



    "The experience of Stem Cell Sciences in standardising conditions for
growing stem cells should help accelerate the evaluation of the various mouse
ES cells for HD target validation and drug discovery programs. Working with
SCS furthers CHDI's goal of making high quality reagents available to the HD
research community," said Dr Jamshid Arjomand, Director of Basic Research at
CHDI, overseeing the Foundation's stem cell initiative.



    ESGRO Complete(TM) and several other proprietary SCS media products are
distributed worldwide under an exclusive licence agreement with
Chemicon/Millipore Corporation.



About Stem Cell Sciences plc

    Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) is an international research and
development company focusing on the commercial application of stem cell
biology technologies for drug discovery and regenerative medicine research.
Stem Cell Sciences is now focussing on building revenues through the sale of
products, collaborative research and licensing deals with international
biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.



    Stem Cell Sciences has a substantial portfolio of patents and
patent applications in both adult and embryonic stem cell fields. The Company
has been active in the stem cell research field since 1994, principally
focused on technologies to grow, differentiate, and purify adult and
embryonic stem cells. These include technologies to permit the generation of
highly purified stem cells and their differentiated progeny (specialised
tissue cell types) for use in genetic, pharmacological and toxicological
screens. Moreover, these technologies may be able to provide pure populations
of appropriate cell types for transplantation therapies in the future.



    The Company has its main research base and headquarters in
Cambridge, UK with a second research base in Monash near Melbourne, Australia
and a business development office in San Francisco, USA.



    For further information on the company please visit:
http://www.stemcellsciences.com.



About Huntington's Disease

    Huntington's disease is a familial disease caused by a mutation in the
huntingtin gene. Each child of a parent with a mutation in the huntingtin
gene has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the mutation. As a result of carrying
the mutation, an individual's brain cells fail and die leading to cognitive
and physical impairments that, over the course of the disease, significantly
impair the individual's quality of life and ultimately causes death. Symptoms
of Huntington's disease, which generally develop in midlife and become
progressively more debilitating as time passes, can also develop in infancy
or old age. Once overt symptoms start, patients live for about 15 to 20
years. One person in 10,000 is believed to carry a mutation in the huntingtin
gene. There is currently no way to delay the onset of symptoms or slow the
progression of Huntington's disease.



About CHDI Foundation, Inc.

    CHDI is a non-profit organization with a mission to rapidly discover and
develop drugs that delay or slow Huntington's disease. CHDI supports an
international network of research laboratories from academia and industry
pursuing novel therapies for the treatment of Huntington's disease. As a
collaborative enabler, CHDI seeks to bring the right partners together to
identify and address critical scientific issues and move drug candidates to
clinical evaluation as quickly as possible. More information about CHDI can
be found at http://www.chdifoundation.org.



    
    For further information, please contact:

    Stem Cell Sciences plc (United Kingdom)
    Alastair Riddell, CEO
    Tim Allsopp, Chief Scientific Officer
    [phone]

    Stem Cell Sciences llc (USA)
    George Murphy, Vice President Business Development
    [phone]

    Stem Cell Sciences pty ltd (Australia)
    Paul Bello, Operations Manager
    [phone]

    CHDI Foundation, Inc.
    Bonnie Lee La Madeleine, Communications Director
    Tel: [phone]
    [e-mail]

    Citigate Dewe Rogerson (For SCS, United Kingdom)
    Mark Swallow / Emma Palmer Foster / Amber Bielecka
    [phone]

    Talk Biotech (For SCS, Australia)
    Fay Weston, Director
    [phone]

    Daniel Stewart & Company (NOMAD to SCS, United Kingdom)
    Simon Leathers / Simon Starr
    [phone]