Since September 2011 the two companies have performed joint R&D aiming to enable the culture of cells of higher, more stable quality in a shorter time and at reduced cost, by applying the experience and know-how in medical devices as well as cell processing technology of Asahi Kasei to the immunocyte culture process for dendritic cell (DC) vaccine therapy¹ under R&D by tella (refer to the press release dated September 30, 2011).

Although the joint effort successfully gained progress and valuable experience in technological development, including the development of automatic cleaning technology and an automatic recovery mechanism for DCs, and in a management approach for the overall cell culture process premised on clinical use, it became clear that overcoming technical challenges to achieve a fully automated process would take longer and cost more than initially anticipated.

Furthermore, when compared with the growth in the number of patients who receive DC vaccine therapy, the cost advantages that medical institutions can gain by introducing cell processing equipment are now expected to be smaller than initially anticipated.

The two companies studied the future direction of their joint R&D in light of these circumstances, and as a result decided to let their joint R&D expire upon the end of the term of the agreement.

After the agreement expires, tella will continue its business of providing medical institutions with technical expertise and know-how of DC vaccine therapy. Asahi Kasei will apply the experience gained through the joint R&D as it advances research on new cell therapy and regenerative medicine in the field of health care.

¹ Dendritic cell (DC) vaccine therapy is a newly emerging and potent form of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. A cancer patient’s DCs are cultured in vitro in large numbers, and are conditioned to recognize specific cancer antigens. After being returned to the patient’s body, these DCs transmit the antigen characteristics to lymphocytes, which then specifically target and attack cancer cells based on their antigens.