Both the companies combined UHN’s human pluripotent stem cell biology expertise with VistaGen’s Human Clinical Trials in a Test TubeTM stem cell technology platform.
The platform is believed to provide clinically relevant indications of human response to new drug candidates early in the drug development process.
Under the collaboration, both the companies will take up development of stem cell-based drug discovery and drug rescue technologies, using mature cardiac, liver and pancreatic beta-islet, blood and cartilage cells.
In addition, the research program will lay emphasis on large-scale production of these cell types, each derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells), which have the potential to be used in cell therapy applications.