Merck Millipore and Sistemic Collaborate to Identify Control Markers for Stem Cell Production

• Companies jointly developing kits for quality control of in vitro stem cell cultures
• Partnership combines Sistemic’s microRNA solutions with Merck Millipore’s stem cell expertise
• Collaboration to advance stem cell-based therapeutics toward clinical testing

November 1, 2012, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today announced a new initiative with Sistemic Ltd., a leading provider of microRNA-based problem-solving services and kit-based products. The two companies are jointly developing a proprietary monitoring methodology utilizing Sistemic’s microRNA marker detection capability to enable consistent growth of stem cells in Merck Millipore’s Mobius^® CellReady platform.  These markers could also be incorporated into a commercially-available kit for quality control of stem cells in culture.

“To advance the progress of stem cell products toward clinical use, it is critical to ensure the consistency and quality of large-scale culture systems,” said Robert Shaw, Commercial Director of Merck Millipore’s Stem Cell Initiative. “We are excited to be partnering with Sistemic, as the company’s leading microRNA-based solutions will help us continue our efforts toward the commercialization of stem cell processing.” 

“We are delighted to enter this collaborative arrangement with Merck Millipore,” commented Sistemic Chairman and CEO Jim Reid. “The fact that Merck Millipore has chosen Sistemic as its collaborative partner is yet another validation of our ground-breaking research and ability to develop systems for quality control of stem cells, and other mutually beneficial products and programs.”

This announcement was made at the Second Annual Stem Cell Meeting on the Mesa, of which Sistemic and Merck Millipore are co-sponsors, October 29-31 in La Jolla, California.

For more information about Merck Millipore’s Stem Cell Initiative, please visit: www.merckmillipore.com\stemcells.

About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2011 revenues of EUR 2.4 billion. Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.

Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

About Sistemic Ltd
Sistemic’s primary business is focused on providing innovative microRNA-based problem-solving services and kit-based products to areas of unmet need within Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and the Cell Therapy research, development and manufacture markets. MicroRNAs are seen as the master controllers of a cell and as such Sistemic believe that they are providing instructive information on effects on a whole cell or organism rather than an isolated pathway. This system approach means that the data produced is more indicative of the biology and more diagnostic of actual effect. Their extensive suite of tools for the Cell Therapy community includes SistemQC™ which is used to characterise cells including stem cells (Cell Identity, Purity, Potency, and Safety) as well as monitoring the QC of production. In addition, the drug development markets are served through a range of products which include SistemTOX™, SistemKB™ and SistemRNA™.

More information is available at www.sistemic.co.uk