Every so often an undeniably important technology emerges resulting in the consolidation of IP and the alignment of thought leaders around a few main players. This isn’t the same kind of rivalry kindled in RNA interference, and Alnylam and Sirna are no longer duking it out from various conference podia. (See "In RNAi, Technology Proliferates Beyond the Big Two," START-UP, April 2007 Also see "In RNAi, Technology Proliferates Beyond the Big Two" - Scrip, 1 April, 2007..) The new battleground is stem cells. And though the two heavy hitters in the promising induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell space are perhaps less aggressive in publicly asserting their dominance, they’ve positioned themselves as leading competitors in the still-nascent but rapidly advancing area of cellular reprogramming.
The two leaders, iPierian Inc. and Fate Therapeutics Inc., were each formed in 2007. Each has recently begun making some noise, though both companies point out their great respect...
