Sigma-Aldrich (Nasdaq: SIAL) announced today it has entered into a research collaboration program with D-Finitive Cell Technologies, Inc. This collaboration is expected to support the development and commercial offering of 14 products over a two-year span, with a planned launch of many of these products in 2009. These additions to Sigma-Aldrich's growing portfolio of research tools for regenerative medicine are expected to consist of serum-free media for bone marrow and umbilical cord stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells; cytokine cocktails for stem cell expansion and differentiation; novel formulations for cyropreservation of stem cells; and specialized products to conduct clonogenic assays of the various stem cells.
D-Finitive Cell Technologies specializes in providing hematopoietic and neural stem cell products, cell culture media, and innovative growth factors for cells. D-Finitive provides its services to industry and research institutions for the development of specific products and custom applications. Their expert staff is headed by Paul Price, Ph.D., who is the Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Price is internationally recognized as the leader in serum-free cell culture media development. He is the creator of many products currently used in the field of cellular research, including both stem and differentiated cells, and has played a key role in the development of formulations for the growth of cells used in the vaccine and bio-production industries.
Sigma-Aldrich views funding of external research collaborations as a strategically important approach to developing cutting-edge research tools, and to augment its internal development efforts. "We are excited about this collaboration. Working with biotech companies such as D-Finitive enables us to commercialize more products as a complement to our in-house product development," said Carl Schrott, Marketing Director for Regenerative Medicine at Sigma-Aldrich. "Our relationship with Dr. Price is expected to help ensure the development of high-quality products."
Donald P. DeLuca, Jr., President of D-Finitive Cell Technologies, said, "We are delighted to be working with Sigma-Aldrich. For us, this relationship represents a major opportunity to marry our expertise in media design to their expertise in high quality manufacturing and their worldwide distribution network."