Astellas acquires Universal Cells

Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) said it has acquired Universal Cells Inc. (Seattle, Wash.) for up to $102.5 million in an upfront payment and milestones.

Astellas will gain Universal Cells' technology to develop universal pluripotent stem cells for allogeneic cell therapies that can be administered to patients without human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching...