Makulardegeneration mit embryonalen Stammzellen heilen

    • Tja, scheint ne Hängepartie zu werden. Viele der Aktionäre sind nicht bereit ihre Aktien zu 8,50 $ zu verscherbeln.
      Auf der anderen Seite braucht Astellas mind. 50,1 % der Aktien, um die Übernahme erfolgreich abschließen zu können.
      Das ist zum ersten Termin 17. Dez. fehl geschlagen. Jetzt haben Sie die Frist verlängert, um an genug Aktien ran zu kommen.
      So wie es aussieht, werden die Japaner ihr Angebot erhöhen müssen, um Aktionäre auf ihre Seite ziehen zu können.
      Egal, wie es ausgeht, dieses Unternehmen mit diesen Möglichkeiten ist vielmehr wert.
      Abwarten ...

    • Tja, nun ist es offiziell ...
      Die Japaner haben Ocata sehr, sehr günstig übernommen und werden jetzt die gestoppten Versuche weiterführen !

      Astellas Announces Results of Tender Offer to AcquireAll Outstanding Shares of Ocata Therapeuticsand Changes to SubsidiariesTokyo, February 10, 2016 - Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: YoshihikoHatanaka, “Astellas”) announced today that it has successfully completed, through its indirectwholly-owned subsidiary Laurel Acquisition Inc. (“Laurel”), a tender offer to purchase allissued and outstanding shares of common stock of Ocata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OCAT,President and CEO: Paul Wotton, “Ocata”) for a price of US$8.50 per share net to thestockholder in cash (“Tender Offer”). Astellas commenced the Tender Offer on November 19,2015, U.S. Eastern Time, and the Tender Offer, as previously extended, expired at 5:00 p.m.,U.S. Eastern Time, on February 9, 2016, and was not further extended. The board of directorsof Astellas approved the Tender Offer on November 10, 2015.Following successful completion of the Tender Offer, Laurel has been merged into Ocata onFebruary 10, 2016, U.S. Eastern Time, with Ocata surviving the merger as a consolidatedsubsidiary of Astellas. As a result of the merger, Ocata’s common stock has ceased to be tradedon the NASDAQ Global Market and will no longer be listed.

    • Hallo zusammen,

      Dr. Lanza hat jetzt bekannt gegeben. das er weiterhin in den USA für Astellas arbeiten wird.
      Bemerkenswert ist vor allen Dingen, das er sagte, auch an den anderen vielversprechenden Versuchen weiterzuforschen.
      Sieht gut aus.

      Grüße

      Patrick

      Ocata’s chief scientific officer to join Astellas

      By Robert Weisman GLOBE STAFF FEBRUARY 22, 2016

      The chief scientific officer of Ocata Therapeutics Inc. will join Astellas Pharma Inc., the Japanese drug maker that acquired Marlborough-based Ocata earlier this month through a $379 million tender offer.

      Robert Lanza, one of the most prominent scientists in the field of stem cell biology, said in an e-mail that he has accepted a job leading global regenerative medicine efforts at Astellas.

      “Astellas has determined that the Boston area was the ideal location to expand their regenerative medicine presence,” Lanza said. “This is also a win situation for patients, Astellas has an incredibly talented team that is committed to finding new regenerative medicine therapies, and in particular for diseases that have no treatments.”

      Lanza, who was the first scientist to clone an endangered species in 2001, is responsible for hundreds of inventions, books, and scientific papers on stem cell biology and tissue engineering. At Ocata, formerly known as Advanced Cell Technology Inc., he has led development of stem cell therapies for macular degeneration and other debilitating conditions. None have yet been submitted for regulatory approval.

      His continuing role at Ocata after the Astellas takeover, and whether he even supported the buyout, was the subject of intense speculation among many shareholders who have opposed the tender offer. Astellas had to extend the offer twice before it gathered enough shares to complete the transaction, with some investors complaining that the offer undervalued Ocata and other objected to the company being sold to a foreign buyer.

      In his email, Lanza said he has been in “back-to-back integration meetings” with Astellas executives for the past week. He sounded an upbeat note.

      “I’ve spent my life trying to find ways to help these patients and I can honestly say for the first time that we have the resources to succeed,” he wrote.

      Lanza said Astellas has given him “the green light to move ahead, not only with our various eye programs, but for a diverse range of other diseases, including several promising therapies that had to be tabled [by Ocata] because of a lack of staff and money.”

      He also said that “I can assure investors who believed in Ocata that their dedication was not in vain. The research programs are in good hands, and with people who truly believe in the science.”

    • Was neu ist, ist sein nächstes Buch, welches im Mai erscheint.

      Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death (Englisch) – 3. Mai 2016

      Kurze These:

      Die Welt entsteht durch unser Bewusstsein. Auf Quantentheorie basierend vertritt er wie viele vor ihm (Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg,
      Schrödinger, Kant, Dürr, Zeilinger) den Fakt, das die Welt, das Universum, Raum und Zeit nur bestehen, weil wir es so sehen.
      Realität entsteht nur durch Wahrnehmung. Und das ist keine Esoterik sondern knallharte Physik.

      Sorry, mal so nebenbei gesagt.
      Ich beschäftige mich schon seit mehreren Jahren intensiv mit Quantentheorie und war deshalb auch überrascht als Dr. Robert Lanza 2010 sein erstes Buch über Biozentrismus veröffentlicht hat.
      Eine zweite phantastische Seite dieses Bio-Wissenschaftlers.

      Guten Abend

      Patrick

    • newsroom.astellas.us/feature-stories?item=982
      astellas.com/en/ir/ar2016/feature/index.html

      Hallo zusammen,
      hier mal wieder was neues über Robert Lanza und Astellas.
      Es ist wieder mal sehr vielversprechend.
      Der Focus liegt weiterhin auf Makular degeneration und Stargard dystrophy.

      Im Nachhinein ist es wohl so, das ehemals Ocata Therapeutics, mit den auf embryonalen Stammzellen basierten Versuchsreihen in den USA nicht zum Zug gekommen ist. Das war politisch und gesellschaftlich nicht durchsetzbar. Die Bush-Administration, die bürokratische FDA (Food and Drug Administration) und das korrupte NIH (Gesundheitsministerium) haben hier entscheidend gebremst.

      Sehr schade für alle von Augenkrankheiten Betroffenen in aller Welt.
      Nun ist zu hoffen und danach sieht es aus, das die Japaner mit Astellas es besser machen. Nur ist wieder viel Zeit verstrichen.

      An der revolutionären, regenerativen Medizin hat sich aber nichts geändert und das stimmt hoffnungsvoll.

      Liebe Grüße an alle ...
      Patrick

    • Hallo zusammen,

      unser Doc ist immer noch hart am arbeiten und es sieht nach wie vor gut aus.

      Liebe Grüße an alle

      Patrick

      www.wbjournal.com/article/20170329/HEALTH02/170329944

      Marlborough firm explores vision cures and more

      MARCH 29, 2017
      BY LIVIA GERSHON

      Chief Science Officer Dr. Robert Lanza has been with Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM) since 1999, when the Marlborough biotechnology company—then known as Advanced Cell Technologies Inc. (ACT)—was just five years old. Since then, he's seen the stock price rise and fall, and CEOs come and go.

      But since its acquisition by the Japanese company Astellas Pharma Inc. just over a year ago, Lanza said he's been feeling more optimistic than he has in a long time about the prospects for developing new therapies, including methods for restoring vision for some people who have lost their sight. He's even thinking bigger than he used to: about how to help build projects that could take down some of the world's biggest threats to human health.

      Today, Lanza also serves as head of Global Regenerative Medicine for Astellas, a pharmaceutical giant with 17,000 employees in locations around the world. The parent company offers AIRM support it's never had before, Lanza said.

      "We can take advantage of all their wealth of knowledge for development and clinical trials," he said. "They've given us all the resources that we've needed—equipment that only a few people in the world have."

      A growing workforce

      And so, for the past year, AIRM has been on a hiring binge, doubling its employee count to more than 70 and bringing in leading researchers from all over the world who specialize in the company's various focus areas.

      For years, the company now known as AIRM has been at the forefront of developing therapies based on the sometimes controversial use of embryonic stem cells. In 2006, ACT developed a method for using those cells without destroying embryos, helping to reduce political pushback over the issue.

      But, as is often the case with biotech companies taking on ambitious projects, progress was slow and uneven at times. Some investors complained that ACT overpromised in terms of both its research and its business relationships. For some time, it was selling as a penny stock. In early 2014, it got in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission for reportedly selling unregistered stock, and one of its CEOs had to leave the company after failing to report stock sales. Later that year, it renamed itself Ocata.

      Kevin O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives in Worcester, said Astellas' decision to acquire Ocata for $379 million speaks to the underlying value of the company's research.

      "I was a bit surprised," he said. "I said to myself, obviously this science is something that this Japanese company sees merit in."

      In particular, O'Sullivan said Astellas seemed to be investing in Lanza's work and ideas.

      "I still have faith in Rob as a scientist," he said. "He's been able to kind of hang in there for a long period of time."

      A fresh start

      Since AIRM became part of Astellas, Lanza said, he's felt more able to get things done.

      "The culture, the people, are so pleasant," he said. "Just before the takeover, with the last couple administrations, it wasn't quite that way."

      Having the backing of a deep-pocketed pharmaceutical company means there's little pressure to deliver a quick return on investment.

      "This is what's so great about it, is they've identified us as one of the leaders in regenerative medicine," Lanza said. "So they're leaving it to us, with our experience, the scientific background, to decide what's feasible."

      Lanza has high expectations for feasibility, starting with finally commercializing the therapy for vision problems that the company's been working on for years. The treatment targets two forms of vision loss that currently have no cure, Stargardt's macular degeneration (SMD) and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). So far, Lanza said, 38 people have received treatment for the conditions through clinical trials, and all but two have had their conditions stabilize or improve.

      One patient whose story stuck with him was a cowboy from Kansas who had been blind in one eye has had his vision improve to 20/40.

      "He can now ride his horses again," Lanza said. "It makes me feel good to know that (we're) helping people. People can now go to the airport on their own, read their watch, use a computer."

      Beyond treating those conditions, though, AIRM has bigger plans. Lanza said cell lines the company has been working with have been shown to restore vision in totally blind animals suffering from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and to restore function in the eyes of mice with glaucoma.

      Other applications

      Other cell lines show promise for treating disorders of the immune system including lupus and Crohn's disease. In 2015, AIRM tested one such therapy on six pet dogs with the canine equivalent of Crohn's who were patients at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University. A paper published at the time reported that all the dogs showed improvement, and only two relapsed.

      Lanza said Astellas is also thinking bigger. He said he and other research leaders are now collaborating to put resources into therapies for the most deadly ailments—such as kidney, heart, and liver diseases.

      "We put together a dream team," he said.

      While he works with researchers all over the world, Lanza said he's happy to be doing it from Marlborough. For scientists in the Boston area, MetroWest can be either a great place to live or an easy commute from the city, going against the flow of traffic. And the vibrant
      Boston-area biotech research world is appealing to new hires from other countries and other parts of the U.S., he said.

      "You have a lot of the top universities here," Lanza said.

      The proximity to big research institutions is helpful not just in recruiting but also because it allows for more interactions with leaders in the field. It even helps with basic logistics,
      Lanza said: if AIRM wants to get cell samples from Boston, someone can just drive them over rather than worrying about shipping.

      Today, AIRM has reached the maximum capacity of its current building in Marlborough, and it will be expanding as it continues to add to its headcount, Lanza said.

      "We've already hired some of the top scientists in the field, and we plan to continue expanding here in MetroWest," he said.