Japan follow-through on iPS
One of Japan’s biggest industrial concerns, Fujifilm Holdings Corp, has expanded further into regenerative medicine with the acquisition of Cellular Dynamics International Inc, a developer of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). CDI was founded by the stem-cell pioneer James Thomson.
One of Japan’s biggest industrial concerns, Fujifilm Holdings Corp, has expanded further into regenerative medicine with the acquisition of Cellular Dynamics International Inc, a developer of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). CDI was founded by the stem-cell pioneer James Thomson.
The acquisition comes at a time when Japan is pushing hard to create incentives for regenerative medicine including introducing more flexible regulatory procedures for developers. This is widely seen as a response to the ageing of the country’s population.
Fujifilm is buying CDI through an all-cash tender offer that values the US company at about $307 million. CDI had revenue of $16.7 million in 2014. The acquisition follows the Japanese company’s purchase of a majority stake in Japan Tissue Engineering Co Ltd in December 2014. Together the purchases are expected to accelerate cell and tissue-engineering product development at the company including in the area of cellular scaffold technology.
Like Eastman Kodak, Fujifilm has seen its traditional film business be overtaken by digital technology in recent decades. The company has responded by expanding into healthcare, the graphic arts and office equipment. With CDI, the company will own iPS cell technology that is widely used in research and is the basis of disease cell banks at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. CDI recently developed iPS cell lines for potential use in transplantation and is working on cells for use in preclinical studies of dry age-related macular degeneration.
Dr Thomson, the company’s founder, is renowned for having derived the first embryonic stem cell line in 1998. He also derived iPS cells in 2007 contemporaneously with Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University.
Fujifilm announced the acquisition on 30 March 2015.
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