This group of leading stem cell scientists is predicting using stem cells in  clinical trials for cancer in 2008. Are other clinical trials really going to be years away?

from Reuters.com
Fate Therapeutics Created by Leading Stem Cell Scientists to Pursue New Approaches
Nov. 29, 2007
Fate Therapeutics Created by Leading Stem Cell Scientists to Pursue NewApproaches to Stem Cell TherapiesBiologists, chemists, clinicians from Harvard, Stanford, University ofWashington, the Scripps Research Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospitalpartner with top investor groupsSEATTLE, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of the nation's most respectedleaders in stem cell biology today announced formation of Fate Therapeutics, anew biotechnology company developing drugs to control cell fate. Fate willharness the healing power of adult stem cells by using small molecule drugs tomodulate cells in vivo (in the body) and by reprogramming mature adult cellsinto stem cells.
"Fate's approach is the dawn of a new day in medicine," said Dr. BenShapiro, retired Executive Vice President of Worldwide Basic Research, MerckResearch Laboratories, and a member of Fate's Science Advisory Board.
"Revolutionary advances in stem cell research have shifted the entiredebate. We are proving that adult stem cell proliferation and differentiationcan be modulated in the human body, and we now have the ability to inducepluripotent stem cells from adult human tissue rather than relying on the useof stem cells derived from embryos."
The company expects to have a lead adult stem cell modulating drug, in acancer-related indication, enter the clinic in 2008.
Fate Therapeutics' revolutionary platform is two-fold
The Fate platform focuses on both regenerative and reprogramming medicine.The Fate regenerative medicine platform involves developing drugs that awakenadult stem cells in the body to repair damaged cells and tissues. The Fatereprogramming medicine platform involves developing drugs to reprogram matureadult cells into stem cells which when differentiated can become healthyheart, bone, brain or other tissues.
Applications of these two approaches include treating the effects ofneurological diseases such as Down syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's;healing damaged heart tissue after heart attacks; increasing bone and musclestrength in the severely frail; and protecting organs after infection ortransplantation. Fate will also tackle devastating cancers, such aspancreatic and colorectal cancer, by developing drugs to prevent the expansionand maturation of cancer stem cells.
Fate's approach differs significantly from others working with stem cells
To date, most stem cell companies have focused on cell therapy usingharvested cells from cord blood or other tissues. In contrast, Fate's approachfocuses exclusively on traditional therapeutics, namely small molecules andprotein therapeutics, to direct cell fate. In addition to its novel approach,Fate's work has potential broad application across all degenerative diseases,developmental disorders and cancers, and in enabling the creation of healthypatient-identical cells for transplantation.
"We have looked at investing in many stem cell companies, but the scienceand commercial reality just wasn't there yet," said Robert Nelsen, foundingpartner of ARCH Venture Partners, whose firm co-founded Fate. "Now is theperfect storm; the right biology breakthroughs; a targeted way to use realdrugs; and the leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors -- all in thesame company to develop breakthrough medicines."
Founders' breakthroughs are breathtaking in scope and implication
Fate's founders include researchers from across the United States andmultiple scientific disciplines, including basic biology, biological chemistryand translational medicine. As authors of many of the most far-rangingbreakthroughs in stem cell science, the team is defining the changes in thefield:
-- Philip Beachy, Ph.D., Stanford University Institute for Stem Cell
Biology and Regenerative Medicine and HHMI has pioneered the use of
synthetic small molecules and natural products to manipulate activities
of developmental and stem cell signaling pathways in vitro and in vivo.
-- Sheng Ding, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute, has worked on the
identification of small molecules and genes that control cell fate,
including cell reprogramming and differentiation. Dr. Ding's work has
important implications for the development of small molecule drugs that
can potentiate adult stem cells in vivo, and reprogram differentiated
cells to new functions.
-- Randall Moon, Ph.D., University of Washington, Director, Institute for
Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, HHMI, and UW Department of
Pharmacology, has focused on illuminating the biological pathways that
control adult stem cells during the process of regeneration to develop
new therapeutic methods to activate regeneration.
-- David Scadden, M.D., Professor, Harvard University, Co-director and
Co-founder, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Director Massachusetts
General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine, has broken new
ground in understanding how blood forming stem cells and other adult
stem cells are maintained in the adult body in specialized niches, and
in developing therapies that exploit this biology to modulate adult
stem cells in vivo.
-- Leonard Zon, M.D., Harvard University, Director of the Stem Cell
Program, Children's Hospital of Boston, and HHMI, is a world expert on
the biology of adult blood forming stem cells and methods of enhancing
their function for cancer and regenerative medicine applications
Esteemed scientists to join Fate's Science Advisory Board
In addition to the founding scientists, Fate Therapeutics has garnered theexpertise of additional stem cell scientists, research leaders, and drugdevelopment luminaries to join its Scientific Advisory Board:
-- Robert Langer, Sc.D.: Institute Professor of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-- Ram Sasisekharan, Ph.D.: Professor of Biological Engineering & Health
Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-- Ben Shapiro, M.D.: Retired Executive Vice President of Worldwide Basic
Research, Merck Research Laboratories
"Fate's timing is excellent," said Fate's Executive Vice President Tom St.John. "The science is now mature enough. Clear therapeutic modalities haveemerged, and the cloud of political and ethical debate surrounding embryonicstem cells is now a thing of the past. We've got a real opportunity to provethat Fate's adult stem cell therapies are the future of medicine."
Before joining Fate, St. John was the Vice President of TherapeuticDevelopment at ICOS Corporation overseeing all of ICOS' development programs.
World-class investment team lined up behind scientists
The unparalleled scientific team is backed by leading venture capitalfirms ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock and OVP, allwith successful track records in building some of the world's leading lifesciences companies.
The syndicate group has a combined $7 billion under management.Ground-breaking biotechnology companies founded by the firms and theirpartners include Immunex, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences, GeneticsInstitute, Illumina, Centocor, Sepracor, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, AthenaNeurosciences, Aviron, Corixa, deCode Genetics, Geron, Glycofi, Ikaria,Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Sirna Therapeutics,Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Vical and XenoPort.
Fate Therapeutics was co-founded by Alex Rives, of ARCH Venture Partners.The company's board of directors includes Amir Nashat, General Partner,Polaris Venture Partners; Robert Nelsen, Co-founder and Managing Director,ARCH Venture Partners; and Bryan Roberts, Managing General Partner, Venrock.
About Fate Therapeutics
Fate Therapeutics was founded by the world's leading experts in adult stemcell biology to develop and commercialize therapies to control the destiny ofcells. The company's revolutionary platforms are focused on developingmedicines that awaken adult stem cells resident within the body to fightdisease and regenerate damaged cells and tissue, and on the use of smallmolecules to reprogram mature adult cells to an embryonic-like state. Thecompany's work has broad application, and offers new hope in the treatment ofdegenerative diseases, developmental disorders, and cancer and in enabling thecreation of patient-identical cells for transplantation.
Fate has facilities in Seattle, and soon in California and Massachusetts.For more information, see http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.SOURCE Fate TherapeuticsSam Butler of Edelman, +1-206-268-2255, or cell, +1-206-854-8971, for FateTherapeutics
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS10259+29-Nov-2007+PRN20071129?sp=true
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