Professor Peter Zandstra’s start-up steers towards regenerative medicine fast track
Canada’s largest and most established stem cell bank is the newest member of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine’s (CCRM) industry consortium (IC). Insception Lifebank Cord Blood Program is a FACT-accredited family cord blood bank. The company has extensive experience working with hematopoietic (blood) stem cells that CCRM will soon require to advance its therapeutic product pipeline.
CCRM is a Canadian not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program and six academic partners. The Centre supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based technologies and therapies. A network of academics, industry and entrepreneurs, CCRM aims to translate scientific discoveries into marketable products for patients. CCRM was founded in 2011 and is hosted by the University of Toronto.
“Insception Lifebank is a Canadian success story and its membership in the IC helps us check some of those final boxes in the expertise that we seek from our business partners,” says Dr. Michael May, CEO of CCRM. “Insception Lifebank offers tremendous knowledge in clinical applications of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and sharing that knowledge is valuable for other IC members, CCRM and the academic community; and, ultimately, we intend to commercialize novel HSC technologies for patients.”
Insception is a private company owned by Argosy Partners, Mount Sinai Hospital, management and its scientific founders, including IBBME’s own core faculty, Professor Peter Zandstra . By continuing to partner with leading Canadian hospitals such as Toronto’s Mount Sinai and Scarborough Hospitals, the Insception Lifebank Cord Blood Program is able to provide every Canadian family with security, state-of- the-art processing and storage, financial stability and long-term professional governance.
“We are pleased to be part of this outstanding group. This alliance supports our commitment to research and advancing stem cell use,” says Richard L. Lockie, President & CEO of Insception Biosciences Inc. “Our mission is to provide the best possible stem cells from the umbilical cord blood to healthcare professionals to advance their effectiveness in transplantation and cellular therapy.”