Kyoto Univ., Others Eye Clinical Trial of Drug Found with iPS Cell Use

   Kyoto, Aug. 1 (Jiji Press)--Kyoto University said Tuesday that it and three other major Japanese universities are slated to conduct the world's first clinical trial of a drug candidate discovered with the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
   A team at Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, or CiRA, has examined whether and how each of 6,809 chemical compounds works on iPS cells derived from sufferers of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a rare disease that creates bone within muscles.
   Among the tested chemicals, an existing agent that inhibits a protein compound called mTOR from functioning has been found to block the abnormal bone formation.
   The mTOR inhibitor is currently used as an immune suppressor and sold by Nobelpharma Co. by the name of Sirolimus in Japan.
   The clinical trial of the drug for FOP patients will begin at the hospitals of Kyoto University, the University of Tokyo, Nagoya University and Kyushu University after Kyoto University obtains approval for the trial program possibly in September.

(2017/08/01-21:21)