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PFIZER HAS SET up a dedicated research unit to develop pharmaceuticals based on stem cells. The business will be supported by two new research laboratories to be built in the UK and the US at a total cost of $100m.

The Global Regenerative Medicine Research unit will be the first of several small independent research units, with which Pfizer hopes to emulate the innovativeness of small biotechnology companies. The unit will be free to work with leading academic, biotech and pharmaceutical partners around the world.

It will operate from two bases, Granta Park in Cambridge, UK, and Pfizer’s Research Technology Centre in Massachusetts in the US. In total it will employ around 70 researchers who will work in small, flexible teams.  

The research unit will develop stem-cell based treatments that could prevent disability, repair failing organs and treat degenerative diseases, the company says. Its ultimate goal is to deliver new medicinal products that pave the way for the use of cells as therapeutics, Pfizer says. The unit will use both embryonic and adult stem cells.

The new unit’s chief scientific officer, Ruth McKernan, says: “While there is still a lot to understand about how stem cells can be used therapeutically, we believe it is one of the most promising areas of scientific research.”