Novocell Inc.

Development of cell and drug therapies for the treatment of diabetes and other chronic cellular diseases

Novocell Inc. is headquartered in Irvine, California, Founded in 1994, the company’s subsidiaries CyThera and BresaGen are responsible for the development of the hESCs (human embryonic stem cell) platform.

Alan J. Lewis, PhD, President, CEO and Director
E. Edward Baetge, PhD, VP and CSO
Allan Robins, PhD, VP and CTO
Melissa Carpenter, Ph.D., VP of Research and Development

Fred Middleton
Alan J. Lewis, Ph.D.
Donald J. Elmer
Franklin “Pitch” Johnson
Asish K. Xavier, Ph.D
Orville Kolterman, M.D

Jeffrey A. Bluestone, M.D., Prof.
Mike German, M.D., Prof.
Alberto Hayek, M.D., Prof.
Matthias Hebrok, Ph.D.
Jeffrey A. Hubbell, Ph.D.
Marc R. Montminy, M.D., Ph.D., Prof.
Didier Y.R. Stainier, Ph.D., Prof.
James M. Wells, Ph.D.

3550 General Atomics Court
Building 2-503
San Diego, CA 92121
USA
Phone: +1-858-455-3708
Fax: +1-858-455-3962

Novocell is focused on the development and marketing of cell and drug therapies in the field of diabetes and other chronic diseases.

The company is investigating three major technology areas: human embryonic stem cell (hESC) engineering, cellular delivery including the cell encapsulation technology and drug discovery, i.a. concerning the research in similarities between cancer stem cells (CSCs) and hESCs in view of self-renewal, pluripotency and immortality.

As a treatment of diabetes, Novocell is investigating a form of therapy for diabetes by the combination of their technologies: The hESC engineering platform offers the ability to generate insulin-producing cells regulated by the glucose level. These cells are coated with polyethylen glycol, a protective biocompatible cover (cell encapsulation technology.

In December 2005, the clinical Phase I/II clinical trial of the PEG-cell encapsulation in type I diabetic disease started. The insulin-producing cells used in this study are cadaver-derived human islets.

The following section contains a selection of the company’s most relevant patents. For comprehensive patent information please refer to the espacenet databases.