Sigma® Life Science Obtains Global License for Kyoto University's iPS Cell Patent Portfolio, Deepens Commitment to Drug Discovery and ADME/Toxicology

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL) today announced that Sigma Life Science, its innovative biological products and services research business, has furthered its commitment to stem cell research, drug discovery and ADME/Toxicology by acquiring a worldwide license to use Kyoto University's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio. Sigma Life Science, leveraging its zinc finger protein platform and stem cell technology portfolio, is now poised to develop a new set of differentiated tools for both the drug discovery and preclinical research communities. These tools will include novel iPS-cells, iPS-cell derived primary cells, novel assays, custom cell line development and ADME/Toxicology services.  Under the terms of the agreement, iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) will receive a license fee from Sigma-Aldrich.

iPS cell technology can create pluripotent stem cells from the normal adult cells of a patient. Pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into many specialized primary cell types needed for research, such as cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, neurons, and muscle cells. With access to differentiated cells from patients with the condition of interest, or healthy human cells engineered to contain disease-specific genetics, researchers may obtain greater predictive accuracy than is possible with the in vitro models used currently in pharmaceutical research and preclinical studies.

"The pace of progress in iPS cell research has been breathtaking thanks to many scientists' strenuous efforts. With the non-exclusive license agreement that has been formed by Sigma-Aldrich, a global corporation in the life science field, and iPS Academia Japan, I expect that this move will further accelerate research and development using iPS cell technologies not only in the United States but also in the rest of the world," said Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University.

"Our license with Kyoto University grants us the freedom to operate under Kyoto University's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio in the increasingly important field of stem-cell based research and development. Researchers currently use primary cells derived from techniques that lack consistency and the ability to genetically engineer cells. Using the Kyoto iPS cell technology and our zinc finger protein technologies, we hope to generate stable, defined sets of cells and subsequently derived tissues whose predictive power will allow us to develop a new paradigm in assay development," says David Smoller, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Sigma-Aldrich. "Thus, our Sigma-Aldrich scientists may be able to guide cells through the critical series of maturation steps — in ways no one has done previously — and also add reporter genes into these cells so that researchers can directly visualize the true biology of cellular processes."

Sigma Life Science's new iPS cell-based technologies, along with its existing stem cell product portfolio of serum-free cell culture products, cell culture media, 3D matrices, growth factors, and antibodies, will provide uniquely comprehensive support for iPS cell-related research.

Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "has furthered," "is poised to," "can create," "will," "hope," "may be able," "expect," "predictive" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived there from. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines, novel assays, or related custom services will assist the Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding products associated iPS cells, iPS-cell derived primary cell lines, novel assays, or related custom services could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma Life Science: Sigma Life Science is a Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the Company's leadership in innovative biological products and services for the global life science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation. Product areas include biomolecules, genomics and functional genomics, cells and cell-based assays, transgenics, protein assays, stem cell research, epigenetics and custom services/oligonucleotides. Sigma Life Science also provides an extensive range critical bioessentials like biochemicals, antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology and histology, nucleotides, amino acids and their derivatives, and cell culture media.

About Sigma-Aldrich:   Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical, organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich customers include more than one million scientists and technologists in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and industry. The Company operates in 40 countries and has nearly 9,000 employees whose objective is to provide excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to accelerating customer success through innovation and leadership in Life Science and High Technology.  For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award winning web site at www.sigma-aldrich.com.

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SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation