Human Stem Cells Institute Public Tradedas MCX:ISKJ Industry Biotech Research and Pharmaceutical Founded 2003(2003) Headquarters Moscow, Russia

Key people

Human Stem Cells Institute OJSC (HSCI) ( or ) is a Russian public biotech company founded in 2003. HSCI engages in R&D as well as commercialization and marketing of innovative proprietary products and services in the areas of cell-based, gene and post-genome technologies. HSCI aims to foster a new culture of medical care developing new health care opportunities in such areas as personalized and preventive medicine.

Today, HSCIs projects encompass the five main focus areas of modern biomedical technologies: regenerative medicine, bio-insurance, medical genetics, gene therapy, biopharmaceuticals (within the international project SynBio).

HSCI owns the largest family cord blood stem cell bank in Russia Gemabank, as well as the reproductive cell and tissue bank Reprobank (personal storage, donation).

The Company launched Neovasculgen, the first-in-class gene-therapy drug for treating Peripheral Arterial Disease, including Critical Limb Ischemia, and also introduced the innovative cell technology SPRS-therapy, which entails the use of autologous dermal fibroblasts to repair skin damage due to aging and other structural changes.

HSCI is implementing a socially significant project to create its own Russia-wide network of Genetico medical genetics centers to provide genetic diagnostics and consulting services for monogenic inherited diseases as well as multifactorial disorders (Ethnogene, PGD and other services).

The Company actively promotes its products on the Russian market and intends to open new markets throughout the world.

HSCI is listed on the Innovation & Investment Market (iIM) of the Moscow Exchange (ticker ISKJ). The Company conducted its IPO in December 2009, becoming the first Russian biotech company to go public.

In 2003, the Human Stem Cells Institute and Gemabank were established.[1] Over the next few years, the Company increased its client base while expanding its technological abilities. In 2008, HSCI gained a blocking stake in the German biotech company, SymbioTec GmbH, which owns international patents for a new generation of drugs to treat cancer and infectious diseases. In 2009, HSCI successfully raised RUB 142.5 million in an IPO on MICEX and became the first publicly traded biotech company in Russia.[2] The Company continued to expand in 2010, when it gained a 50% stake in Hemafund, Ukraines largest family cord blood bank. In 2011, HSCI initiated the SynBio Project, as a long-term partnership with RUSNANO (a state-owned fund for supporting nanotechnologies) and some major R&D companies from Russia and Europe including Pharmsynthez, Xenetic Biosciences and SymbioTec (which was acquired by Xenetic Biosciences pursuant to the SynBio project agreement ).[3] The project is founded on strong principles of international scientific cooperation, as participating research centers are found in England, Germany, and Russia.[4]

HSCI is engaged in scientific studies and research in the main fields of biomedical technology with the aim of creating innovative products (drugs, medical devices, technologies, services, etc.) which are capable of solving urgent and complex challenges faced by clinical medicine today and which could be incorporated into contemporary healthcare practices. Within of each of the main fields of biomedical technology cell (regenerative medicine), gene (genetic medicine) and post-genome (biopharmaceuticals) technologies the Company is currently undertaking several scientific research projects. [5]

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Human Stem Cells Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monday, July 20, 2015

In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment for certain cancers. Now this strategy, which uses patients own immune cells, genetically engineered to target tumors, has shown significant success against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells that is largely incurable. The results appeared in a study published online today in Nature Medicine.

Patients received an infusion of altered immune cells known as T-cells roughly 2.4 billion of them after undergoing a stem cell transplantation of their own stem cells. In 16 of 20 patients with advanced disease, there was a significant clinical response. The scientists found that the T-cell therapy was generally well-tolerated and that modified immune cells traveled to the bone marrow, where myeloma tumors typically are found, and showed a long-term ability to fight the tumors. Relapse was generally associated with a loss of the engineered T-cells.

This study suggests that treatment with engineered T-cells is not only safe but of potential clinical benefit to patients with certain types of aggressive multiple myeloma, says first author Aaron P. Rapoport, MD, the Gary Jobson Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Our findings provide a strong foundation for further research in the field of cellular immunotherapy for myeloma to help achieve even better results for our patients.

The trial is the first published use of genetically modified T-cells for treating patients with multiple myeloma. The approach has been used to treat leukemia as well as lymphoma, according to Dr. Rapoport, who is the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.

More than 77,000 people in the United States have multiple myeloma, with about 24,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Patients are treated with chemotherapy and in many cases an autologous stem cell transplant, but long-term response rates are low, and median survival is three to five years.

The majority of patients who participated in this trial had a meaningful degree of clinical benefit, Dr. Rapoport notes. Even patients who later relapsed after achieving a complete response to treatment or didnt have a complete response had periods of disease control that I believe they would not have otherwise experienced. Some patients are still in remission after nearly three years.

The research is a collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Adaptimmune, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company which owns the core T-cell receptor technology and funded the study. Dr. Rapoport and co-authors Edward A. Stadtmauer, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, and Gwendolyn K. Binder-Scholl, PhD, of Adaptimmune, contributed equally to the research. Dr. Rapoport is the studys principal investigator.

In the clinical study, patients T-cells were engineered to express an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor (TCR) specific for a type of tumor antigen, or protein, known as a cancer-testis antigen (CT antigen). The target CT antigens were NY-ESO-1 and LAGE-1. Up to 60 percent of advanced myelomas have been reported to express NY-ESO-1 and/or LAGE-1, which correlates to tumor proliferation and poorer outcomes. According to Adaptimmune, the trial is the first published study of lentiviral vector mediated TCR gene expression in humans.

Of the 20 patients treated, 14 (70 percent) had a near complete or complete response three months after treatment. Median progression-free survival was 19.1 months and overall survival was 32.1 months. Two patients had a very good partial response three months post treatment. Half the patients were treated at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center and half at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center. Researchers note that the response rate was better than would be expected for a standard autologous stem cell transplant. In addition, patients did not experience side effects which have been associated with another type of genetically engineered T-cells (chimeric antigen receptors, or CARS) used to treat other cancers.

The study was originally developed by Carl H. June, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, and Dr. Rapoport, who have been research collaborators for 18 years.

Multiple myeloma is a treatable but largely incurable cancer. This study reveals the promise that immunotherapy with genetically engineered T-cells holds for boosting the bodys ability to attack the cancer and provide patients with better treatments and control of their disease, says E. Albert Reece, MD., PhD, MBA, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. This trial is also an excellent example of significant scientific advances that result from collaborations between academic medical institutions and private industry.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 and is the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as an innovative leader in accelerating innovation and discovery in medicine. The School of Medicine is the founding school of the University of Maryland and is an integral part of the 11-campus University System of Maryland. Located on the University of Marylands Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine works closely with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide a research-intensive, academic and clinically based education. With 43 academic departments, centers and institutes and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians and research scientists plus more than $400 million in extramural funding, the School is regarded as one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the U.S. with top-tier faculty and programs in cancer, brain science, surgery and transplantation, trauma and emergency medicine, vaccine development and human genomics, among other centers of excellence. The School is not only concerned with the health of the citizens of Maryland and the nation, but also has a global presence, with research and treatment facilities in more than 35 countries around the world. medschool.umaryland.edu/

The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated center in Baltimore affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and University of Maryland School of Medicine, offers a multidisciplinary approach to treating all types of cancer and has an active cancer research program. It is ranked in the top 50 cancer programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. http://www.umgcc.org.

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Patients' Own Genetically Altered Immune Cells Show ...