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Can Japan’s Richest Person Save Cell Therapy’s Future?

Yanai Donates $30m To New iPSC Production Facility

 
• By Lisa Takagi

With financial help from the founder of Uniqlo, Japan’s leading facility for induced pluripotent stem cells is aiming to automate production to slash costs and kick-start R&D in the field.

Japan iPSC lab
New Japan production facility aims to lower cost of induced pluripotent stem cell therapies. (Shutterstock/AI-generated)

A new facility in Japan for the production of autologous induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may help drive national R&D activities in the autologous cell therapy area by reducing both safety risks and costs, the country’s leading research foundation in the field is predicting.

Receiving a donation totaling JPY4.5bn ($30m) from the country’s richest individual, the new facility is hopeful it can reduce production...

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