Kyoto medical firm to launch personal iPS cell storage service

Doha [Qatar], March 24: A Kyoto-based regenerative medicine company is launching a service that will allow individuals to generate and store induced pluripotent stem cells from their own blood for potential future use.
Starting in April, iPS Portal Inc will offer a service in collaboration with pharmaceutical experts that features strict quality standards and monitoring. The initial cost of cell production and related processes is estimated to be between 10 million yen and 20 million yen.
The company aims to secure orders from 20 people in the service's first year, with hopes of increasing the volume over time to reduce costs and make it "affordable for everyone." According to iPS Portal, although treatments using a patient's own iPS cells are believed to prevent immune rejection, challenges remain, including the lack of unified quality standards for the cells.
The company, which has established quality standards together with pharmaceutical experts, will manufacture and store cells for future clinical use."It is essential to proceed in the right way while confirming the characteristics and safety of each individual's cells," said Junya Toguchida, assistant director at the Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application and managing director of iPS Portal.
According to the center, induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, have the ability to differentiate into almost any human cell type and proliferate virtually indefinitely.
They were generated by Shinya Yamanaka, director emeritus and professor at the center, who announced the generation of mouse iPS cells in 2006 and human iPS cells in 2007. He won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2012.
Source: Qatar Tribune