The annual Bio-Europe Spring meeting typically brings together business development directors from small and medium-sized European companies to discuss licensing or partnering deals with their counterparts at large pharma, or with venture capitalists. In the past, the companies by and large have been developers of small molecule or antibody drugs. This year the meeting, which took place on 9 to 11 March, featured several companies with regenerative medicine technologies, including one that is just a year old.

The European Medicines Agency’s main scientific committee is recommending approval of a stem cell therapy to treat limbal stem cell deficiency. It is the first positive opinion for a stem cell therapy and the fifth for an advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP).

France-based TxCell SA has enrolled the first patient in a new trial of its cell therapy for Crohn’s disease which aims to demonstrate that 160 patients with refractory disease can experience relief. Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

Israel-based Pluristem Therapeutics Inc has entered into a long-term collaboration with the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem to assess the potential efficacy of a cell therapy for the treatment of complications arising from bone marrow transplantations.