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Vericel develops, manufactures, and markets autologous cell-based therapies for patients with serious diseases and conditions. The company markets two cell therapy products in the United States. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is a third generation autologous cellularized scaffold product that is indicated for the repair of single or multiple symptomatic, full-thickness cartilage defects of the adult knee, with or without bone involvement. Epicel® (cultured epidermal autografts) is a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep dermal or full thickness burns greater than or equal to 30% of total body surface area. Vericel is also developing 1 additional cell product. Ixmyelocel-T is a multicellular therapy intended to treat advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Developing autologous (patient`s own) cell therapies—with integrity Vericel uses rigorous scientific methods to develop novel therapies for the treatment of patients with autologous (patient`s own) cells. In addition, personal integrity, team work, collaboration, and innovative technology are the foundations of our work. We seek to practice transparency in our clinical trials and research, and in our relationships with each other, our patients, and the investors who support us.
Sarepta Therapeutics is a Cambridge, MA-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In the United States, 30,000 new cases are estimated every year with half of those cases diagnosed in young children. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the patient`s immune system goes awry and attacks and destroys the pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are responsible for regulating blood sugar (glucose) levels by producing precise amounts of the essential hormone insulin. The discovery of injectable insulin in the 1920s changed T1D from a uniformly fatal disease with a life expectancy of months to one that could be carefully managed for decades through multiple daily blood glucose measurements and insulin injections. However, insulin injections are not a cure and patients face a lifetime of difficult disease management and serious complications including kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage. Despite nearly a century passing since the discovery of insulin, insulin injection remains the only treatment available to patients. Semma Therapeutics was founded to develop transformative therapies for patients who currently depend on insulin injections. Recent work in the laboratory of Professor Douglas Melton led to the discovery of a method to generate billions of functional, insulin-producing beta cells in the laboratory. These cells develop in islet-like clusters grown from stem cells. Initial preclinical work in animal models of diabetes has shown that transplantation of these cells are sufficient to control blood glucose levels. This breakthrough technology has been exclusively licensed to Semma Therapeutics for the development of a cell-based therapy for diabetes. Ongoing research at Semma Therapeutics is focused on combining these proprietary cells with a state-of-the-art cell delivery and immune protection strategy that can protect these cells from the patient`s immune system and allow the beta cells to function as they do in non-diabetic individuals. Implantation of the beta cell-filled device has the potential to provide a true replacement for the missing beta cells in a diabetic patient and would not require patient immunosuppression. Semma Therapeutics is working to bring this new therapeutic option to the clinic and improve the lives of patients with diabetes.
Zucara Therapeutics, a CDRD and MaRS Innovation portfolio company, is developing the first drug therapy to prevent hypoglycemia in people with diabetes. Our first-in-class therapeutic is focused on improving glucagon counterregulation by inhibiting somatostatin which is dysregulated in Type 1 diabetes.
Deltagen is a San Mateo, CA-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.