PPL's Newsrelease
PPL Therapeutics PLC
23 February 2001
Date: For immediate release, Friday 23rd February 2001
Contacts Dr Ron James
Dr Alan Colman Tel: 0131 440 4777
PPL Therapeutics plc Website: ppl-therapeutics.com
Alistair Mackinnon-Musson Tel: 020 7796 4133
Philip Dennis Email: ppl@hspr.co.uk
Hudson Sandler
PPL Therapeutics plc ('PPL')
PPL announces progress in stem cell research programme
at UK scientific meeting
At a meeting of the British Fertility Society today in London, Dr Ron James,
PPL's Managing Director, will announce that the Company has been able to
demonstrate the possibility of producing multipotential stem cells without the
need to go through an embryo intermediate. In the long term, the findings have
implications for the use of more ethically acceptable cell populations in the
treatment of human disease.
Dr James will discuss experimental results which suggest that PPL Therapeutics
Inc. (PPL's wholly owned US subsidiary) has been able to derive beating
myocardial (heart) cells from skin cells via a multipotential stem cell
intermediate. For commercial reasons, details of the procedure will not be
disclosed. Myocardial cells have previously been produced from stem cells. The
novelty in PPL's approach, however, is to 'revert' fully differentiated skin
cells to stem cells first and then to transform these into a distinct
population of cells of another type such as heart cells.
The work has been undertaken in bovine (cattle) cells using funding from the
US government under its Advanced Technology Programme.
In PPL's experimental system, a marker gene which had been inserted into the
initial skin cell population was readily identified in the stem and heart
cells that were then generated from these skins cells. The presence of the
marker gene in all three populations of cells further substantiates the
concept that the stem cells and heart cells were derived from the same
starting population of skin cells. The programme is still at an early research
stage and more work remains to be done to optimise the efficiency of the
transformation process.
One of the next challenges, which will be addressed by PPL's UK research team,
will be to repeat the findings using human cells. The generation of
multipotential human stem cells is the goal for this programme as the Company
seeks to address the possibility of using cellular transplants produced from
stem cells to treat human diseases. Studies in animal models have already
demonstrated the feasibility of using implanted cell populations to repair
damaged heart and brain tissue.
PPL's initial commercial target for its stem cell research remains the
production of insulin producing pancreatic islet cells for the treatment of
diabetes in humans. The research programme will also include the introduction
of patented genes, which have been designed to prevent rejection of foreign
cells. If successful, this would reduce or avoid the need for suppression
therapies and thus make cellular treatment of diabetes more widely acceptable.
Information on PPL's islet cell project was contained in a press release
issued by the Group on 10th November 2000.
Dr Ron James, Managing Director of PPL Therapeutics said:
'The results of this experiment gives us confidence that the method we are
developing as a source of stem cells is working and I believe it will be
equally applicable to humans. The fact that it works with genetically modified
cells is important because we aim to introduce genetic modification to
mitigate rejection of non matched cells. If successful, this could pave the
way for cellular therapy without the need to use immune suppression drugs.'
Ends
Notes to Editors:
1. PPL Therapeutics has a variety of therapeutic protein products, two
of which are in late stage clinical trials, produced from the milk of
transgenic livestock (sheep, cows, and rabbits). PPL announced in 2000 that
it was to receive $40 million, through an exclusive agreement with Bayer
(Research Triangle Park, NC), for production and marketing of
alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), produced in transgenic sheep, for treatment of
congenital deficiency, also known as hereditary emphysema, and cystic
fibrosis.
2. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to become
all types of specialised cells, for example, blood cells, nerve cells, etc.
PPL recently (5 October 2000) announced the award of a $1.9m ATP grant to
fund research on the production and differentiation of stem cells from non-
human primate and livestock species.
3. Islet cells are small groups of endocrine cells in the pancreas that
secrete the hormones insulin and glucagon.
4. Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by high levels of blood
glucose resulting from defects in Insulin secretion, insulin action, or
both. It is estimated that 15.7 million people have diabetes worldwide.
Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes
may account for 5-10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Present treatment
requires a strict regimen that typically includes a carefully calculated
diet, planned physical activity, home blood glucose testing and multiple
daily insulin injection.
5. Further information on PPL, its products and technologies can be found at:
ppl-therapeutics.com |
