Stemedica Asia PTE and PT Kalbe Farma’s Stem Cell and Cancer Institute have entered into an agreement through which the latter firm will be the exclusive licensor of the former’s ischemic-tolerant adult allogeneic mesenchymal and neural stem cells to be used in clinical trials conducted in Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand.

Through this licensing agreement, Kalbe has first rights of refusal for additional countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. In addition, Kalbe’s Stem Cell and Cancer Institute will be responsible for organizing and funding clinical trials in Southeast Asia, Stemedica said. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We have chosen to license Stemedica products based upon the quality of their cGMP manufacturing and the unique attributes of their ischemia-tolerant stem cells,” Kalbe’s Boenjamin Setiawan said in a statement. “Their ability to scale production to treat hundreds of thousands of patients from a single tissue donation is in keeping with our objective as a pharmaceutical company: to bring a safe, effective, off-the-shelf solution to millions of people in Southeast Asia suffering from disease.”

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