Pfizer Buying Rights for Treatment with Stem Cells
The use of stem cells for therapeutic purposes has attracted a lot of attention of the pharmaceutical industry and the best evidence for that is the announcement of Pfizer buying rights for the development of stem cells from Athersys. The number one pharmaceutical company in the world has signed an agreement with the biotechnology company based in Cleveland which gives Pfizer the right to develop and use the Athersys’ stem cells for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, in first place of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The exclusive right will cost Pfizer of $6 million at the beginning and about $105 million over the following years. The sum Pfizer is prepared to pay clearly reveals the interest of pharmaceutical industry in stem cell technology as well as the fact that the use of stem cells for therapeutic purposes requires further studies and research.
The ability of stem cells to form various tissues within the body has great potentials in the future treatment of various medical conditions. The stem cells developed by Athersys from bone marrow known as MultiStem still require further clinical tests in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and are currently being tested in humans as a heart attack and cancer therapy. Stem cells might be very useful as a replacement for damaged tissues but Pfizer and Athersys foresee the use of stem cells to encourage the body’s self-healing abilities.
Stem cells from mature tissues such as MultiStem do not arise as much controversy as stem cells obtained from human embryos but the therapy still raises a lot of eyebrows in the scientific community.
In collaboration with University College London, Pfizer also works on use stem cells for treatment of age related macular degeneration and develops a treatment for diabetes by using embryonic stem cells with Novocell, a San Diego based company.
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