https://bio.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/p1/26/02/03/14220/

The industry-academia collaborative research program “T-CiRA” (Takeda-CiRA Joint Program for iPS Cell Applications) began in April 2015 under a 10-year agreement. Takeda Pharmaceutical has invested 20 billion yen over 10 years, and has conducted research on drug discovery using iPS cells, cell therapy, and drug safety evaluation.

Three major achievements from T-CiRA were

(1) a project to develop allogeneic iPS cell-derived chimeric antigen receptor T cell (iCAR-T) therapy,

(2) a project to treat patients with severe heart failure and type 1 diabetes using cardiomyocytes and pancreatic islet cells created from allogeneic human iPS cells, respectively, and

(3) a project to develop a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy using genome editing technology.

Summarizing the achievements over the past 10 years, Professor Yamanaka, Head of CiRA, introduced “246 academic conference presentations, 58 patent applications, one T-CiRA startup, eight projects funded by public research funding from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) and other organizations, 66 scientific journal publications, and one clinical trial currently underway.”

The clinical trial currently underway is an investigator-initiated trial of allogeneic iPS cell-derived pancreatic islet cells (OZTx-410) developed by Orizuru. In April 2025, Orizuru announced the completion of the first transplant into a type 1 diabetes patient. Professor Yamanaka commented, “The development of allogeneic iPS cell-derived pancreatic islet cells is an excellent example of how iPS cells can be used in regenerative medicine,” and expressed his hope that “Orizuru will publish the results of their clinical trial in the near future.”