Genea Stem Cells (GSC): 25 new disease specific pluripotent stem cell lines placed on the NIH registry

SYDNEY, Australia --(Business Wire)--

Genea Stem Cells Pty Ltd (GSC), a supplier and developer of disease-specific human stem cells, today announced that 25 of its disease specific embryonic pluripotent stem cell lines have been placed on the USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) human stem cell registry. These embryonic stem cell lines are now all available commercially for use in medical research.

These cell lines include one disease free pluripotent cell line and 24 others with individual mutations that give rise to several severe diseases such as cancer (breast cancer, Wilm's tumor and Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome), Huntington's disease, muscular dystrophy (including CMT, FSHD and Myotonic) and cystic fibrosis as well as some rarer genetic diseases such as Trisomy 5, macular dystrophy, incontinentia pigmenti, juvenile retinoschisis, alpha thalassemia and autosomal dominant torsion dystonia. All these cell lines are genetically unmodified and have been derived in compliance with international regulatory and ethical guidelines.

GSC has the world's largest private bank of pluripotent human embryonic stem cells with more than 100 individual lines expressing almost 30 different genetic diseases. The Company is also developing multiple differentiated cell lines from these pluripotent lines and currently offer GABAergic neurons and vascular smooth muscle cells. These are the only commercially available differentiated disease affected cell lnes in the world and GSC is willing to work with drug developers globally to custom-make disease-specific differentiated cell lines for use in in vitro research.

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Dr Uli Schmidt, General Manager of GSC, commented: "It is a tribute to all the hard work and diligence of our scientists in Sydney that so many of our lines have been accepted by the NIH. We believe that this year will see substantial commercial take up of these perfect in vitro research tools."

GSC will be exhibiting (booth 1536) this week at the Society for Lab Automation and Screening (SLAS) 2013 conference and exhibition in Orlando, Florida. [12-16 January 2013].

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About Genea Stem Cells

Genea Stem Cells (GSC) supplies and develops disease-specific pluripotent and differentiated human embryonic stem cells for use in drug development and research. All of our cellular products are genetically unmodified human cells - the most accurate in vitro reflection of clinical conditions, promising more predictive disease models and thereby reducing the need for animal studies. GSC provides the following products for use in drug development and medical research:

The world's largest private bank of pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (more than 100 cell lines representing almost 30 genetic diseases and a variety of genetic backgrounds). These cell lines are derived in full compliance with international ethical and regulatory guidelines.
The world's only commercially available, application-ready differentiated disease specific cell types (available from any GSC stem cell line).
A unique specialised stem cell medium, Genea M2 - serum-free, fully-defined and applicable for high throughput screening applications.

As well as providing the above products, GSC also works collaboratively with industry for custom-developed cell-based assay solutions in drug development.

Genea Stem Cells Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of Genea Limited (formerly Sydney IVF Limited), a public, unlisted company that has been operating IVF clinics in Australia since 1985. Genea Stem Cells Pty Ltd is governed by the same strong ethical principles and corporate governance practices.

Genea Stem Cells is located in Sydney, Australia and has been supplying commercial stem cell solutions for several years, drawing on an almost 30 years of research heritage within Genea.

More information about Genea Stem Cells can be found at www.geneastemcells.com.au