SCM Life Science said Thursday it has signed a joint research agreement with Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. biotech firm, for developing a diabetes treatment using pancreatic cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.

“Inducible pluripotent stem cell research has become a new growth strategy for the cell therapy industry in Japan, and the government is actively supporting it, but it is not currently actively researched in Korea,” a company official said. “Stem cells are universal cells capable of differentiating into all human tissues and are likely to be used extensively in the field of regenerative medicine.”

The two companies plan to confirm the efficacy of the stem cell in treating diabetes through a joint study using pancreatic cells, he added.

SCM Life Science believes that Allele’s induced pluripotent stem cells have a high chance of commercialization as it is quite safe by using autologous cells and is easy to harvest with a simple procedure from a nearby clinic institution, making it easily transportable to a manufacturing site.

Allele also owns current good manufacturing practice production facilities in the U.S. and conducts various stages of induction of pluripotent stem cell lineage and differentiation.

"We are pleased to cooperate with the development of diabetes treatment using Allele’s induced pluripotent stem cells,” SCM Life Science CEO Rhee Byung-gun said.

Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals CEO Jiwu Wang also said, “We are excited to have a partnership with SCM, which has much experience in the field of cell therapy and is in actual clinical stage.”

Through this opportunity, both companies will create synergies in the field of induced pluripotent stem cells and produce meaningful results, he added.