100 Companies Developing Human Stem Cell Therapies

At a recent stem cell conference in San Francisco, the host, a venture capitalist from a reknown Life Science VC (controlling more than USD 500 million in funds) estimated that about 100 companies in the United States and approximately the same number in other countries were trying to develop stem cell based therapies and related products.

Though commercial blockbusters rivaling the sale of drugs is still years away, its nice to know that many of the CEOs from the stem cell companies who attended were optimistic that stem cells are no longer a theory but soon to be reality in the treatment of certain diseases and degenerative conditions.

PICK OF THE CROP (as mentioned in article):
1. Osiris Therapeutics of Baltimore- allogeneic (donated cells) cellular repair for damaged hearts and arthritic knees
2. StemCells of Palo Alto- neural stem cell treatment from fetuses for Batten disease (fatal, caused by missing/defective brain enzyme)
3. Advanced Cell Technology of Alameda- stem cells to treat eye macular degeneration and skin wound healing
4. Geron of Menlo Park- human embryonic stem cells for human spinal cord injury (will be the 1st federally approved embryonic stem cell treatment test)
5. Aastrom Biosciences of Michigan- stem cell treatment for regenerating severe bone fractures

CAPITAL $$
"That's our No.1 challenge, access to capital" said the CEO of Vistagen. Stem cell research does not come cheap and Osiris estimated that they have spent more than USD 200 million on stem cell studies and USD 48 million more this year. With the lack of government funding and the on-going debate on stem cells, many of the companies are finding it hard to raise investor interests to contribute to efforts to ease human suffering with stem cell therapy, and a chance to derive a decent return on investment.

In a separate press release, Samaritan Pharmaceuticals has developed a drug, currently progressing through pre-clinical trials, named SP-04 which induces dormant brain neuronal cells to differentiate rapidly into adult neuron cells for Alzheimer's. The share price has moved 76% on the announcement.

In any industry, the lack of funds will naturally exclude any participants without adequate resources to see the project through. It will be interesting to see the M&A activities that the stem cell industry will generate on the global stage in time to come. The merchant banks are probably getting ready.