dailymail | The procedure may help the many men who cannot develop sperm themselves.
Isabelle Cuoc, the firm’s CEO, said: ‘Kallistem is addressing a major issue whose impacts are felt worldwide: the treatment of male infertility.
‘Our team is the first in the world to have developed the technology required to obtain fully formed spermatozoa [sperm] in vitro with sufficient yield for IVF.
‘This is a major scientific outcome that enhances both our credibility and our development potential.
‘We are targeting a global market worth several billion euros in which there are currently no players.’
Spermatogenesis, the process through which the basic reproduction cells develop into sperm, is an extremely complex one.
It usually takes 72 days to take place in the human body, with a constant supply of basic cells being transformed into mature sperm.
But some men suffer from nonobstructive azoospermia - or abnormal sperm production - rendering them infertile.
Scientists have been trying for 15 years to develop a procedure to extract immature spermatogonia from infertile men, transform it into mature men, and use IVF to produce a child.
They have previously shown they can artificially replicate the procedure in mice, but this is the first time is has been successfully shown to work using human cells.
The next stage is to demonstrate that the procedure is safe in pre-clinical trials, which will take place next year.
If the pre-clinical trials are a success, Kallistem claim they will be a position in 2017 to assist the birth of a baby in clinical trials.
They will remove a sample of immature spermatogonia from a man’s testicles in a simple biopsy, transform the genetic material into mature sperm, and then use it in traditional IVF procedures.
Isabelle Cuoc, the firm’s CEO, said: ‘Kallistem is addressing a major issue whose impacts are felt worldwide: the treatment of male infertility.
‘Our team is the first in the world to have developed the technology required to obtain fully formed spermatozoa [sperm] in vitro with sufficient yield for IVF.
‘This is a major scientific outcome that enhances both our credibility and our development potential.
‘We are targeting a global market worth several billion euros in which there are currently no players.’
Spermatogenesis, the process through which the basic reproduction cells develop into sperm, is an extremely complex one.
It usually takes 72 days to take place in the human body, with a constant supply of basic cells being transformed into mature sperm.
But some men suffer from nonobstructive azoospermia - or abnormal sperm production - rendering them infertile.
Scientists have been trying for 15 years to develop a procedure to extract immature spermatogonia from infertile men, transform it into mature men, and use IVF to produce a child.
They have previously shown they can artificially replicate the procedure in mice, but this is the first time is has been successfully shown to work using human cells.
The next stage is to demonstrate that the procedure is safe in pre-clinical trials, which will take place next year.
If the pre-clinical trials are a success, Kallistem claim they will be a position in 2017 to assist the birth of a baby in clinical trials.
They will remove a sample of immature spermatogonia from a man’s testicles in a simple biopsy, transform the genetic material into mature sperm, and then use it in traditional IVF procedures.
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