The study was conducted under the guidance of UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology assistant professor James Byrne at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.
According to the firm, the cells can be used by academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies to evaluate new drug compounds for safety and to develop patient-specific therapies for multiple disease states, including heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.
The firm claims that using skin cells is more advantageous to the patient than obtaining cells from bone marrow or adipose tissue (fat).
The development of a more stable method to create iPS cells from skin cells allows for the potential of a reproducible commercial manufacturing process.
Fibrocell Science CEO and board chairperson David Pernock said, "We continue to be pleased with the results of our collaboration with UCLA to pursue the full potential of fibroblasts."