About REPROCELL

Our portfolio includes an extensive product catalog to support stem cell research and 3D bioengineered tissues, a commercial biorepository of ethically-sourced human tissues, extensive clinical networks across the USA and Europe that enable our contract research services in human ex vivo living tissues, and our capability to supply induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for both research and clinical applications.

We are also developing novel regenerative medicine therapies to treat neurodegenerative disease, based on our expertise in pluripotent stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells, and we are currently conducting clinical trials in Japan for the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia. Our diagnostic services and clinical research services are offered across labs in Japan, USA, UK, and India.

Our expertise in patient recruitment, the logistics, and ethics of accessing human biospecimens and diagnostics is driving the development of new technologies to support biomarker research and precision medicine. Combined with our clinical laboratory facilities, these resources and know-how have positioned REPROCELL as a fully integrated partner for the life sciences industry, with clients across the globe.

Few companies can claim to have such broad business activities and capabilities as REPROCELL, making us a unique partner for you. We can provide the services and materials you need to navigate the complex world of drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

Our Values

Quality

It is at the core of all we do. Investments in people and infrastructure drive quality thinking, quality products and services, and quality customer and patient experiences.

Innovation

Technical advancement requires that we remain flexible and agile. We are forward-thinking and embody the process of continuous improvement. We are dedicated to cultivating and commercializing cutting-edge research and advanced medical technologies to improve human health.

Trust

As skilled experts, we are trusted partners in our customer’s success. We seek to build and maintain their trust through honest effort, communication, and transparency.

Value

We add value by providing tools and services that de-risk, enable and accelerate customer research workflows and medical healthcare applications.

Customer focus

We help solve critical challenges and provide customized results by listening, designing, and implementing solutions to address the unique needs of our clients

Message from our CEO, Chikafumi Yokoyama

Chikafumi Yokoyama REPROCELL is going to continue challenging the new horizon of the ES/iPS cell business as a pioneering company.

REPROCELL is a biotech company that was established in 2003 on the basis of technologies developed by Professor Nakatsuji (who had established the first human ES cells in Japan in that year) at Kyoto University and Professor Nakauchi at Tokyo University. The first human ES cells were established at Wisconsin University in 1998, and the first human iPS cells were established at Kyoto University in 2007. Human ES/iPS cell research is still in its early stages, but it is expected to lead to the next generation of life science businesses such as regenerative medicine, tailor-made medicine, and drug development support.

REPROCELL has been playing a pivotal and pioneering role in the ES/iPS cell business by starting to commercialize culture media for human ES/iPS cells in 2005, the world’s first cardiomyocytes derived from human iPS cells in 2009, and the world’s first neurons derived from human iPS cells in 2010. We will continue expanding our business in the field, including the development of culture reagents, stem cell-based drug development support technologies, and tailor-made medicine.

REPROCELL’s company policies are “customer centeredness,” “faith and trust,” and “a frontier spirit.” We believe that the company can exist only by providing value to customers and contributing to society. Toward this purpose, REPROCELL places emphasis on faithfully and bravely taking up new challenges. Through our business, we will contribute to the health and happiness of people worldwide.

Chikafumi Yokoyama

Chief Executive Officer
REPROCELL, Inc.

Our Leaders

Global Directors

Chikafumi Yokoyama, Ph.D.

CEO, REPROCELL Inc.

Dr. Yokoyama joined REPROCELL Inc. in 2004 as a general manager of business development, a year after the formation of the company. Since 2005 he has been the Chief Executive Officer during which time he raised investment funds, arranged the initial public offering, and managed several global corporate acquisitions. Prior to REPROCELL, Dr. Yokoyama worked as an RandD Leader for Sumitomo 3M, a subsidiary of 3M Corporation. And earlier, for a period of nearly 8 years, he was employed in McKinsey and Company Inc. as a management consultant. Dr. Yokoyama received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Tokyo University in 1996.

Daisuke Usui

COO, REPROCELL Inc.
CEO, Bioserve Biotechnologies India, Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Daisuke Usui has global experience in key business position of medical and biotech companies in mature and emerging markets. His diverse background includes various roles managing finance, sales and marketing, supply chain, and launching new products. Prior to joining REPROCELL, Daisuke was responsible for sales and commercial activities in Asia Pacific with HOYA Surgical Optics, in addition to being an executive manager for its subsidiary in India. Daisuke holds a bachelor of arts (International Studies) from Tsukuba University (Japan).

Yoshiyuki Yamakawa

Director, REPROCELL Inc.

Mr. Yamakawa has been a non-executive director of REPROCELL since 2008. He is the CEO of HIBIKI Partners, a consulting company, and a BOD member of some listed companies. Having graduated from Waseda University in economics, he started his career as a venture capitalist at Nippon Life Insurance. After experiencing directorship of corporate planning at Innotech Corporation, Mr. Yamakawa joined Sosei Co. Ltd. in 2001 and succeeded in its IPO and MandA as a representative executive officer and CFO.

Regional Directors

Rama Modali

CEO, REPROCELL USA Inc.

Rama Modali is currently the Chief Executive Officer of REPROCELL USA, Ltd. He was the original founder and former President of Bioserve USA, which was acquired by REPROCELL in 2014. Rama has been contributing to the improvement of human health for almost 30 years by providing researchers around the world with access to human tissue samples from diseased donors, clinical collections, and molecular biology services. With a vast international clinical network to leverage, he continues to drive the company’s successful growth under the REPROCELL umbrella through international expansion and the provision of cutting-edge scientific applications to support biomedical research.

Prior to founding Bioserve, Rama was employed at the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute. He has over 32 peer-reviewed research publications.

David Bunton, Ph.D.

CEO, REPROCELL Europe Ltd.

Dr. David Bunton is CEO of REPROCELL Europe, a life sciences company based in Glasgow, UK, and a subsidiary of REPROCELL Inc. Having founded a human tissue assay service company (Biopta Ltd.) in 2002, Dr. Bunton later took over as the CEO of the conjoint REPROCELL Europe business after the acquisition of Biopta by REPROCELL. The company remains focused on the use of human fresh tissues, 3D models and the use of iPSCs to better characterize drug efficacy and inter-patient variability in drug responses.

Previously a Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, David has numerous publications in physiology and pharmacology to his name and is a respected opinion leader in the use of human tissue for drug discovery. He chairs the Scottish Lifesciences Association’s special interest group in precision medicine, is a member of the NC3Rs/MHRA working party on human tissues in safety pharmacology and is an advocate for the wider global use of human cells and tissues in drug development.

Karen Bingham, Ph.D.

COO, REPROCELL Europe Ltd.

Dr Karen Bingham is COO of REPROCELL Europe, based in Glasgow, UK. Karen is an experienced commercial scientist with more than 25 years of contract research and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) knowledge. Karen graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Cell Engineering (sponsored by Ethicon, a Johnson and Johnson company) from the University of Glasgow, UK. Having specialised in contract safety testing for the biopharmaceutical industry in the early part of her career, Karen joined Biopta Ltd in 2006 and led the development of its contract research operations. In 2011, Karen led the creation of lab operations at Biopta’s second laboratory in Maryland, located within the REPROCELL USA facility. Following the acquisition of Biopta by REPROCELL in December 2015, Karen was appointed Chief Operating Officer of REPROCELL Europe and continues to lead a team of highly skilled scientists at REPROCELL’s UK (GLP-accredited) and US laboratories, delivering its predictive drug discovery services.

Professor Stefan Przyborski

CSO, REPROCELL Europe Ltd.
Professor, Department of Biosciences at Durham University, UK

Professor Stefan Przyborski has more than 30 years Stefan has over 30 years of research experience within the fields of cell and tissue biology with specialization in stem cell science, cell differentiation and the development of advanced technologies that enable the construction of human tissues in vitro. REPROCELL’s Alvetex 3D cell culture technology was originally pioneered in Prof. Przyborski's laboratory at Durham University (UK).

Prof. Przyborski’s interdisciplinary research at the boundaries of physical science and biology led to the development of Alvetex in the early 2000’s. He founded the company Reinnervate Ltd in 2002 with the purpose of commercializing and further developing Alvetex products and services.

Reinnervate was acquired by REPROCELL in 2014. Alvetex continues to be developed Prof. Przyborski's team at Durham University together with REPROCELL Europe (Glasgow). REPROCELL now offers Alvetex systems globally both as products and in use in bioengineered tissue model services.

Founders and Advisers

Norio Nakatsuji, Ph.D.

Director, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Kyoto University

Career:

Founding director and professor of Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS)
Director and professor at Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences at Kyoto University
Professor at National Institute of Genetics
Principal investigator at the Meiji Institute of Health Science
Postdoctoral training at Umea University in Sweden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Washington University in the USA, and MRC Mammalian Development Unit in UK.
Ph.D. from Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University

Hiromitsu Nakauchi, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor and Director, Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
Professor, Department of Genetics, Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

Career:

Professor, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
Professor, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Team leader, Tsukuba Life Science Center, RIKEN
Assistant professor, Juntendo University School of Medicine
Post-doctoral research fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine
Ph.D. from Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
M.D. from Yokohama City University School of Medicine

Wado Akamatsu, M.D., Ph.D.

Project Professor, Center for Genomic and Regenerative Medicine, Juntendo University

Career:

Project Professor, Center for Genomic and Regenerative Medicine, Juntendo University
Assistant Professor, Research Associate, Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine
Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Medical Genetics and Microbiology
Research Fellow, Japan Science and Technology Agency
Research Fellow, Osaka University Hospital
M.D. and Ph.D. from Graduate School of Medicine, Keio University

Hiroshi Yagi, Ph.D.

Lecturer, surgery (general, gastroenterology), Keio University School of Medicine
In charge of hepatobiliary and pancreatic transplantation

Career:

Lecturer, Surgery (General and Gastroenterology), Keio University School of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Chief Resident Surgeon of Hino City Hospital
Doctor of Medicine (Keio University)
Keio University School of Medicine Surgery (General and Gastroenterology)
Kyoto University Transplant Surgery Medical Associate
Graduated from Keio University School of Medicine

Our History

Established in 2003 by preeminent Japanese university researchers, REPROCELL quickly became the leading stem cell research company in Japan. Soon thereafter, REPROCELL products were employed by Professor Shinya Yamanaka during his pioneering research on iPSC technologies at Kyoto University. We were the first company to offer iPSC-derived human cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, and neuronal cells for research applications and were listed on the Japan JASDAQ / Growth stock market in 2013.

In recent years, REPROCELL has expanded through a series of acquisitions. This expansion has created a workflow – including human tissue acquisition (Bioserve®), RNA reprogramming (Stemgent®), 3D technologies (Reinnervate® – the original manufacturer of Alvetex®), and drug discovery (Biopta®) – in addition to our core capabilities. These acquisitions have been consolidated to regional offices, and the names converted to daughter brands. In the stem cell and drug discovery “market-space”, no other company has such a broad combination of expertise that can be applied to drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

To find out more about REPROCELL’s capabilities, download our Corporate Capabilities brochure (PDF).

2021 – present

June 2024: REPROCELL USA Inaugurates New GMP BioManufacturing Laboratory for clinical and GMP grade hiPSCs and hMSCs for use in stem cell research and therapy development.

June 2023: REPROCELL Europe Launches Pharmacology-AI.

May 2023: Announcement of results – Phase II clinical trial in Japan for Stemchymal.

May 2023: Launch of CDMO services for clinical MSC and MSC-derived ATMPs.

May 2021: Completion of administration of Stemchymal to all enrolled patients in phase II clinical trial in Japan.

Apr 2021: Launch of New Testing Service of Identification for Covid-19 Variants.

Mar 2021: Bioserve Biotechnologies India Pvt. Ltd. launches NIPT clinical services in India.

Mar 2021: Launch of PCR Testing Service for COVID-19.

Feb 2021: Patient registration for phase II clinical trial of regenerative therapeutic Stemchymal®.

2011 – 2020

Jul 2020: Launch of Personal iPS Service in Japan

Feb 2020: Phase II clinical trial of regenerative medicine product Stemchymal® - Recruitment of first patient

May 2019: Launch of cGMP suite in Kawasaki to Accelerate Development of iPSC-derived Glial Progenitors for treatment of CNS disorders.

Mar 2019: REPROCELL join Medicines Discovery Catapult’s Virtual R&D network to accelerate drug development.

Feb 2019: Joint venture formed with Fox Chase Cancer Center to begin operations on biosample repositories.

Apr 2018: Acquired BioServe Biotechnologies India Pvt. Ltd.

Oct 2018: Launch of cutting-edge iPS cell genome editing service utilizing next-generation CRISPR/Cas9 technology: CRISP-SNIPER.

Nov 2017: REPROCELL Announces Research Collaboration with Q Therapeutics and Dr Mahendra Rao.

Aug 2017: Official opening of the "Centre for Predictive Drug Discovery" laboratories in Glasgow, Scotland.

May 2017: Alliance is formed with Fox Chase Medical Center (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) to accelerate biomarker and genetic discovery.

Nov 2016: Agreement is signed with Steminent Biopharmaceuticals (Taiwan) for Stemchymal cell therapy technology; REPROCELL Medical business unit is created.

Nov 2016: REPROCELL Europe founded with full-trading offices located at the Biopta site in Glasgow, Scotland (U.K.); Dr. David Bunton named CEO.

Aug 2016:REPROCELL USA founded with full-trading offices located at the BioServe site in Beltsville, MD (U.S.A.); Dr. Rama Modali named CEO.

Nov 2015: Acquired Biopta (Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.)

Oct 2014: REPROCELL USA, the Company’s affiliate in the U.S.A., acquired the business of iPS cell business department of Stemgent (U.S.A.), and changed its name to Stemgent.

Sep 2014: Acquired BioServe (Beltsville, MD, U.S.A.)

Jul 2014: Acquired Reinnervate (County Durham, England, U.K.)

Feb 2014: Consignment and entrustment agreement with Japan Blood Products Organization for the clinical laboratory measurement work.

Feb 2014: Establishment of RC Partners, Inc., which is the Company’s affiliate to invest in a general partner of the venture capital fund called “Cell Innovation Partners, L.P.” that focuses on the creation of next-generation pharmaceutical and medical businesses.

Nov 2013: Launch of custom-made disease model cells in collaboration with Takara Bio, Inc. (Cell products).

Oct 2013: Shin-Yokohama District (REPROCELL, Inc) was chosen as the Life Innovation Comprehensive Special Zones for International Competitiveness Development.

Jun 2013: Listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange JASDAQ Growth Market.

Dec 2012: Establishment of the sales office of REPROCELL USA Inc. in Boston.

Oct 2012: Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Aug 2012: Establishment of the agreement for sales collaboration concerning human iPS cells model for Alzheimer’s disease with PerkinElmer Japan Co., Ltd.

Jun 2012: Launch of human iPSC-derived neuron model cells for Alzheimer’s disease.

May 2012: Human iPSC-derived hepatocytes (ReproHepato) launch.

Oct 2011: A new version of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (ReproCardio2, frozen) launch.

Apr 2011: A new feeder-free culture medium ReproFF2 launched.

Apr 2011: REPROCELL USA, Ltd. established

2003 – 2010

Oct 2010: Human iPSC-derived DA neuron (ReproNeuro DA) launch.

Jan 2010: The headquarters and laboratory have moved to Yokohama.

Apr 2009: Human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (ReproCardio) and the assay service using it (QTempo) launch.

Aug 2008: Cardiotoxicity testing (QTempo) using monkey ES cell-derived cardiomyocytes launch.

Jul 2005: National granted project with Kyoto University and pharmaceutical companies “Drug screening and toxicity technology using human ES cells” (2005 to 2010).

Jun 2005: Laboratory installed in Tokyo.

Apr 2005: Launch of research reagent business: Primate ES cell medium.

Aug 2004: Start commercializing Nanog antibodies (human, mouse).

Jun 2003: Joint research agreement with Kyoto University.

May 2003: Joint research agreement with Tokyo University.

Feb 2003: REPROCELL Inc. Established.