Takara Bio Europe expands its iPS cell culture medium product line for clinical scale-up and GMP production

Göteborg, Sweden—June 15, 2016—Takara Bio Europe AB announced today that it is adding two xeno-free iPS cell culture media products, Cellartis DEF-CS 500 Xeno-Free GMP Grade Basal Medium and Cellartis DEF-CS 500 Xeno-Free 3D Spheroid Culture Medium. These products will be launched at the 2016 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Conference, June 22–25, in San Francisco, California, USA.

Cellartis DEF-CS 500 Xeno-Free GMP Grade Basal Medium* is a GMP-grade medium for the expansion of undifferentiated human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It is chemically defined, free from human- and animal-derived components, and meets rigorous safety requirements for the sourcing of all components. This GMP-grade medium is fully compatible with the existing pre-clinical grade Cellartis DEF-CS Xeno-Free Culture Medium, the latter being a suitable starting point for projects aiming at clinical development. GMP-compatible protocols are provided for both 2D monolayer culture and 3D spheroid culture.

*The product will be offered with prototype status at its launch, as it is currently undergoing stability test in compliance with GMP guidelines.

Cellartis DEF-CS 500 Xeno-Free 3D Spheroid Culture Medium is a pre-clinical grade, chemically defined culture medium which is free from both human- and animal-derived components. It is used for efficient expansion of undifferentiated human iPS cells in three-dimensional spheroids and allows for a cell concentration of up to 5 million cells/ml in bioreactors and a 1,000-fold expansion within 3–4 passages.

"In 2015, we developed a novel, non-colony, monolayer stem cell culture system, Cellartis DEF-CS Xeno-Free Culture Medium. This system is now extended to meet the emerging clinical scale up and GMP production needs of cell therapy development programs and their translational research. The system is now fully compatible with both 2D and 3D culture systems, enabling customers to select a combination of features best suited to a specific need", said Kristina Runeberg, Site Head and Senior Director, Business Development at Takara Bio Europe AB.

For more information about the products, please visit www.clontech.com/stemcells or visit our booth #1743 at ISSCR 2016. The products are also presented in the innovation showcase on June 24 from 8:00–8:30 am on Level 2, Room 2014, and in poster # W2118, which will be presented on June 22 from 7:30–8:30 pm within the 'iPS Cells' section at Poster Session I Even.

About Takara Bio Europe AB

Takara Bio Europe AB, formerly Cellartis AB, a subsidiary of Takara Bio Europe SAS., is focusing on stem cell derived products and services for drug discovery, disease modelling, and applications within regenerative medicine. The company leverages long-standing experience in stem cell handling and scale-up together with leading expertise in differentiation of cells into mature and functional human cells. Specifically, the company possesses broad expertise in human pluripotent stem cells, including both hiPSC and hESC and related media.

Takara Bio Europe AB is located in state-of-the-art facilities in Göteborg, Sweden.
For more information, visit our website: takarabio.com.

About Takara Bio USA, Inc.

Takara Bio USA, Inc. (formerly Clontech Laboratories, Inc.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., develops, manufactures, and distributes a wide range of life science research reagents under the Takara, Clontech, and Cellartis brands. Through the Cellartis brand, TBUSA offers a broad range of iPS cells and highly functional human ES and iPS cell-derived hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes, as well as reagents for iPS cell culture and differentiation and customizable services ranging from sourcing to generation to differentiation. Other key products include SMART cDNA synthesis kits for a variety of samples and applications, including NGS; high-performance qPCR and PCR reagents (including the Takara Ex Taq, Takara LA Taq, Titanium, and Advantage enzymes); RT enzymes and SMART library construction kits; the innovative In-Fusion cloning system; Guide-it gene editing tools; Tet-based inducible gene expression systems; and Living Colors fluorescent proteins. These and other products support applications including NGS; gene discovery, regulation, and function studies; protein expression and purification; RNAi, gene editing, and stem cell studies; and plant and food research.

For more information, visit takarabio.com.

About Takara Bio Inc.

Takara Bio Inc. is part of Takara Holdings Inc., and represents the biomedical business interests of its parent company. Takara Bio is committed to improving the human condition through biotechnology with three primary areas of focus: developing research tools for the life sciences, gene therapy, and nutraceuticals. Takara has been focusing on biomedical research since 1967. Takara Bio has positioned itself as a leading company in the Japanese life science market through the Takara, Clontech and Cellartis brands.

For more information about Takara Bio Inc., please visit takara-bio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Kristina Runeberg
Site Head & Senior Director, Business Development
Takara Bio Europe AB
kristina.runeberg@takara-clontech.eu