Tokyo: Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd., Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University (CiRA) and Hitachi Ltd. have signed a collaborative research program based on induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

It is a government sponsored program for which grant was awarded to the organizations by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development for the fiscal year 2015.

CiRA and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma have been engaged in a joint research with a view to developing a clinical treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease by the use of human iPS cells. Hitachi, meanwhile, has promoted development of an automatic cell culturing technology.

The three organizations have agreed to work together to develop the base technology and the evaluation methods for establishing a production process of dopaminergic neural progenitor cells with a view toward clinical application of human iPS cell-based regenerative medicine technology for patients with Parkinson's disease.

The objective of the joint program is to establish a production method which would enable efficient mass-production and stable supply of safe and consistent quality cells.