MultiCell forms new company

MultiCell Technologies, a US adult stem-cell company and a supplier of immortalized non-tumorigenic human hepatocytes for drug discovery applications, announced that it has formed a new company, MultiCell Immunotherapeutics, which will be a majority-owned subsidiary of MCET that will develop new therapeutic products utilizing stem cells and other related technologies.

In connection with these efforts, MultiCell announced that MCTI has acquired certain intellectual property and other assets, including laboratory equipment and key employees of Astral, a San Diego, USA-based biotechnology firm developing novel therapies for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cancer and infectious disease. The IP being acquired includes 120 US and 20 foreign issued and pending patents and patent applications related to chimeric antibody technology, treatment of type 1 diabetes, T-cell tolerance, Toll-like receptor technology, dendritic cells, dsRNA technology and immunosuppression.