Company Profile

ViaCyte Inc
Profile last edited on: 3/30/23      CAGE: 4TRD6      UEI: QKEMQKGYSSL1

Business Identifier: Preclinical therapeutic firm specializing in regenerative medicine therapies for diabetes
Year Founded
1992
First Award
2000
Latest Award
2018
Program Status
Active
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Location Information

5580 Morehouse Drive Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92121
   (858) 455-3708
   info@viacyte.com
   www.viacyte.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 52
County: San Diego

Public Profile

In the Summer 2022, it was announced that Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) - itself an SBIR involved firm in it earlier days - had acquired ViACyte Inc - a key player in the emerging field of regenerative medicine. Having previously had several different names - see below - ViaCyte was originally formed in 1992 as a consequence of a deal involving Baxter Healthcare and Trancel. The effort resulted in the creation a new, privately-held small firm - dba Noecrin - and organized around diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. The underlying therapy addressed bby the firm had been based on the differentiation of stem cells into pancreatic beta cell precursors, with subcutaneous implantation in an encapsulation device. Data in the firm's many publications at the time demonstrated that these cells can produce therapeutically relevant levels of insulin in response to blood glucose, and sustain diabetic animals. Their goal - at the time - was described as a product capable of freeing both Type 1 and Type 2 patients with diabetes from insulin dependence on a long-term basis, while reducing or eliminating hypoglycemic, microvasculature, and weight-related cardiovascular complications. Even a cursory survey of the firm's published scientific literature, tsuggests that the Company’s personnel were among the first to describe directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic endoderm cells (PEC) and the first to demonstrate the potential of these cells as able to produce insulin in response to increased blood glucose in preclinical models. ViaCyte personnel have subsequently - and more recently - shown that PEC cells further differentiate in vivo, in both preclinical and clinical studies, to the constituent cell types of the human pancreatic islet. Previous names: Cythera Inc~Novocell Inc~Neocrin. In July 2022, it was announced that - with the intent of accelerating its potentially Curative VX-880 Programs in Type 1 Diabetes - Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) - itself an SBIR involved firm in its earlier years - would acquire ViaCyte in a reported $320M cash transaction

Extent of SBIR involvement

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Synopsis: Awardee Business Condition

Employee Range
100-149
Revenue Range
10M-15M
VC funded?
Yes
Public/Private
Privately Held
Stock Info
----
IP Holdings
150-249

Awards Distribution by Agency

Most Recent SBIR Projects

Year Phase Agency Total Amount
2018 2 NIH $954,591
Project Title: Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes with Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Pancreatic Beta-Like Cells
2003 1 NIH $644,389
Project Title: Development of Human Embryonic Cell Lines
2001 1 NIH $199,616
Project Title: Development of Expanded Human Pancreatic Islets

Key People / Management

  Michael J Yang -- President & CEO

  Alan D Agulnick

  George Albrecht -- Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs

  Emmanuel Edward Baetge -- Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer

  Liz Bui -- Vice President and Intellectual Property Counsel

  Melissa Carpenter -- Vice President of Research and Development

  Kevin D'amour -- Vice President, Research and Chief Scientific Officer

  Howard Foyt -- Vice President, Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer

  Manasi Sinha Jaiman -- Chief Medical Officer

  Timothy Kieffer -- Chief Scientific Officer

  Steve Kradjian -- Vice President, Regulatory and Quality

  Paul K Laikind -- Founder, Former President and Chief Executive Officer

  Alyssa Levin -- Chief Financial Officer

  Alan J Lewis -- Former President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director

  Marty Lorenzo -- General Counsel

  Fred Middleton -- former CEO

  Allan Robbins -- Vice President and Chief Technical Officer

  Anne Sandan -- Vice President, Human Resources

  Ivan Todorov

  Steve White -- Chief Technology Officer

  Mark Zimmerman -- Vice President, Operations and Business Development