San Antonio — StemBioSys has inked its second distribution deal in as many months, announcing plans today to bring its stem cell production products to South Korea in the coming weeks.
Korean life science equipment distributor SeouLin Bioscience Co. will begin selling StemBioSys products in the country, with products going on the market in the next few weeks, says CEO Bob Hutchins. It’s the second distribution deal StemBioSys has announced since late May, following its first-ever deal with Funakoshi Co. Ltd to sell its stem cell-based product in Japan.
Both deals are for three years, and include any other new products that StemBioSys might develop. The company has not disclosed financial terms of either deal, Hutchins wrote in an e-mail.
StemBioSys develops an extracellular matrix from bone marrow stem cells. In the U.S., it sells them directly to researchers and companies for everything from pharmaceutical to clinical use. In the matrix, mesenchymal stem cells from body fat, bone marrow, umbilical cords, and other sources, can multiply faster than cells in traditional lab dishes while still remaining small and undifferentiated, the company says.
The deal is a part of StemBioSys’ international expansion, and the company expects to announce more in coming months. The company raised an $8 million Series A round of funding in April 2015.
SeouLin Bioscience signed a similar distribution deal with Madison, WI-based Cellular Dynamics in August 2015. SeouLin is distributing several types of Cellular Dynamics’ stem cell-derived living human cells—used for research and medical applications—in South Korea, the Wisconsin company’s first entrance into the market.
