An 'in­ter­est­ing­ly porous' pouch: Two star­tups team up on a po­ten­tial­ly new way to treat di­a­betes

When Philip Toleikis joined Ser­no­va in 2009, he en­vi­sioned his com­pa­ny’s cell pouch de­vice would one day be used with stem cells, a field which had cap­tured many a biotech mind but was still fig­ur­ing out its lefts and rights fol­low­ing Shinya Ya­mana­ka’s first pluripo­tent stem cells (iP­SCs), cre­at­ed in a lab just three years ear­li­er.

Over a decade lat­er, Toleikis’ vi­sion may fi­nal­ly be re­al­ized. Tues­day morn­ing, Evotec and Ser­no­va an­nounced a part­ner­ship in which Evotec’s iP­SC-based be­ta cells will be used in Ser­no­va’s cell pouch de­vice as a fu­ture treat­ment for di­a­betes. The com­pa­nies are tout­ing the treat­ment as a “func­tion­al cure” — a lofty claim by any mea­sure.

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