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Fact Sheet

Corporate Overview

Novocell, Inc. is a stem cell engineering company dedicated to creating, delivering, and commercializing cell and drug therapies to treat chronic diseases including diabetes. Novocell combines its proprietary cell encapsulation technology and expertise in cell implantation to develop a renewable source of specialized cells for treatment of cellular and degenerative diseases

Novocell is headquartered in San Diego, California with additional research operations in Athens, Georgia. The company was founded in 1999 and merged with CyThera, Inc. and Bresagen, Inc. in 2004.

Technology Overview

Novocell is focused on various technology platforms addressing the need for an unlimited supply of specialized human cells to treat and cure a wide range of chronic diseases. They include:

  • Stem Cell Engineering- directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to generate therapeutic cell types
  • Cell Encapsulation- proprietary encapsulation technology protects transplanted cells from the immune system, overcoming the need for long-term immunosuppression
  • Drug Discovery and Cancer Stem Cells- understanding the key pathways involved in the self-renewal, pluripotency and immortality of human embryonic stem cells, including cancer stem cells (CSCs)

Stem Cell Engineering

Novocell is a world leader in engineering human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into definitive endoderm and pancreatic endocrine cells in vitro. Human definitive endoderm are the gatekeeper cells that are required for further production of pancreas, liver, lung and other cells, tissues and organs from the endoderm lineage.

Cell Encapsulation

Novocell utilizes a biocompatible polyethylene glycol (PEG) conformal coating that enables implanted cells to survive and function. This eliminates the need for continuous immunosuppressant drugs and allows the encapsulated islet cells to release insulin in response to the recipient’s blood glucose concentration.

Drug Discovery

Novocell is exploring avenues related to cancer stem cells (CSCs) to create good targets for the discovery of novel drugs for cancer treatment. Novocell is also developing drug discovery assays for regenerative medicine and for drug ADME/toxicity prediction using liver and intestinal cells.

Clinical Trials

Novocell received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a Phase I/II clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of implanting human pancreatic islets encapsulated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) into a subcutaneous site in patients with Type 1 diabetes, without the need for long term immunosuppression. The islets are protected from immune destruction after implantation with the PEG coating. The islet cells were isolated from pancreas derived from consented human donors. The trial began in December 2005 and patients are being monitored post-implant. The encapsulation has shown preliminary evidence of efficacy and safety in patients with Type 1 diabetes.

The company is currently developing insulin-producing cells from hESCs and expects to produce large quantities of safe and functional islet cells to treat insulin-dependent Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Clinical trials are expected to begin in 2010 using these cells, in combination with the cell encapsulation technology for the treatment of diabetes.

Executive Management

  • Alan J. Lewis, Ph.D.
  • President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
  • E. Edward Baetge, Ph.D.
  • Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
  • Allan Robins, Ph.D.
  • Vice President and Chief Technical Officer
  • Xiaojie Yu, Ph.D.
  • Senior Director of Biomaterials Science
  • Liz Bui, J.D., Ph.D.
  • Director of Intellectual Property
  • Anne Sandan, C.P.A.
  • Controller & Senior Director of Corporate Administration

Scientific Advisory Board

  • Jeffrey A. Bluestone, M.D.
  • A.W. Clausen Distinguished Professor, UCSF Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco
  • Mike German, M.D.
  • Professor, Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco
  • Alberto Hayek, M.D.
  • Professor of Pediatrics, UCSD School of Medicine,Whittier Institute for Diabetes, La Jolla, CA
  • Matthias Hebrok, Ph.D.
  • Associate Professor, Diabetes Research Center, Department of Medicine,University of California, San Francisco
  • Jeffrey A. Hubbell, Ph.D.
  • Director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Marc R. Montminy, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Affiliate Membership),Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego
  • James Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Director, Clinical Islet Transplant Program, University of Alberta
  • Didier Y.R. Stainier, Ph.D.
  • Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics,University of California, San Francisco
  • James M. Wells, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor, Division of Developmental Biology,Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH

Contact Information

Alan Lewis Ph.D.
President and CEO
3550 General Atomics Court, B2-503
San Diego, CA 92121

Email: info@novocell.com
Phone: (858)455-3708
©2007 Novocell, Inc. · (858) 455-3708 · info@novocell.com