Otsu/Shiga, Japan – July 24, 2015 -  Takara Bio Inc. announced that on July 24, 2015, Advanced Center for Tissue Engineering Ltd. (“ACTE “) and Takara Bio enterd into an agreement regarding joint development of regenerative medical products based on dental pulp cells.

 

Dental pulp cells are a promising candidate of stem cells for regenerative medicin because these cells can easily be collected from deciduous or extracted teeth such as human baby teeth and wisdom teeth. These teeth have been disposed so far because of lack of usefulness. Takara Bio will start joint initiative with ACTE which has a “dental pulp cell bank” to obtain dental pulp cells from individuals and maintain them for this purpose. To promote regenerative medicine business with use of dental pulp cells, Takara Bio will establish and develop techniques as follows according to this agreement.

 

-  Methods for expansion-culture and quality evaluation of dental pulp cells, with an eye to realizing heterologous transplantation

-  Method for cryopresercation of dental pulp cells

-  Method for examination and development of culture medium optimized for dental pulp cells

 

Takara Bio will develop technique for preparation of high quality dental pulp cells suitable for regenerative medicine and products optimized for dental pulp cell culture. Also, it aims to provide contracted service for development and manufacturing of regenerative medical products and products used for the development and manufacturing, as an application of the techniques listed above.

 

Takara Bio is focusing on development of new products and services in regenerative medical fields.

【Profile of ACTE】

Name of the company Advanced Center for Tissue Engineering Ltd.
Established October 30, 2008
Representative President Koichi Otomo
Head Office 1-20-15, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (laboratory: Fuefuki, Yamanashi)
Business ACTE works with 1500 institutions of dentistry across the country to collect and store dental pulp cells, the first company in this business field in Japan. At the same time, it promotes development of regenerative medical products using the cells collected, in joint programs with academic institutions such as Gifu University and pharmaceutical manufacturers (regenerative medical products for treatment of neurological diseases including cerebral infarction or spinal cord injury, congenital diseases in children, and regenerative medical products in dentistry).